Album Description

From pop-culture icon William Shatner comes Has Been, an album unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Produced and arranged by Ben Folds and featuring numerous notable guest appearances, Has Been is the result of the collision of two great creative forces — a surprisingly pop-driven, lyrically potent collection of songs to enlighten and entertain.

Throughout Has Been, Shatner’s own insightful lyrics are masterfully woven into perfect pop melodies written and arranged by Ben Folds. Giving Shatner and Folds a hand on the project is an incredible lineup of singers and musicians, including Jon Auer, Adrian Belew, Matt Chamberlain, Joe Jackson, Lemon Jelly, Aimee Mann, Brad Paisley, Henry Rollins and Sebastian Steinberg.

Highlights include the poignant "That’s Me Trying," penned by Ben Folds with High Fidelity author Nick Hornby, a brilliant version of the Pulp Britpop classic "Common People," featuring vocals by Joe Jackson and closing track, "Real," a duet with country star Brad Paisley, written exclusively for this project. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

HILARIOUS CD
i first heard Ron White on BLUE COLLAR COMEDY TOUR and couldn't stop laughing this cd is great there are afew things from BLUE COLLAR COMEDY TOUR and here's my review

1 SUNGLASSES he talks about seeing some sunglasses he likes he don't love them he likes them and they're more than his 25inchtv

2 TRUTH IN ADVERTISING says there is something near truth"DIAMONDS THAT'LL SHUT HER UP"

3 PLANE CRASH joke from BCCT "IF ONE OF THESE ENGINES FAILS THE OTHER WILL TAKE US TO THE SCENE OF THE CRASH CAUSE THAT'S WHERE WERE HEADING"

4CINCINNATI CHILI this track is ok buy the cd to hear it

5 HURRICANE GEORGE tells of a stupid man who claims to withstand the wind of a category 3 hurricane

6 I DRINK TOO MUCH very short but very funny

7 10 DAYS IN LA says "IF YOU EVER GET THE CHANCE TO BE IN LA PASS"

8 OUTLAW VIDEO GAMES SAYS THEY SHOULD GIVE THE GUN GAMES TO THE POLICE"LAST YEAR ONE GUY SHOT 9 PEOPLE WITH 8 BULLETS POLICEWITH22 BULLETS COULDN'T HIT THE SUBURBAN"

9 COUSIN RAY says how his cousin worships hunting

10 MARRIED A WEALTHY WOMAN best track on cd tells of a sucky marriage to a rich woman

11 CHEATING IN COLUMBUS talks of how he divorced "IF YOU GO 3 MONTHS WITHOUT HAVING SEX WITH ME I'LL HAVESEX WITH SOMEONE ELSE IKNOW I'VE SEEN ME DOIT"

12 OSAMA BIN LADEN it couldn't be a comedycd without a bin laden joke

13LUG NUT DAY he tells of sears messing up his van "I PROMISED SEARS I'D TELL THIS ONE UNTIL THE LAWSUIT SETTLES"

14 CAR SALESMEN jokes of disliking carsalesmen "I WOULD'VE BOUGHT MY VAN FROM SOMEONE ELSE BUT CARSALESMEN ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO SELL CARS"

15 THEY CALL ME "TATER SALAD" you've been on another planet if you haven't heard this one

"Can't ride home on a bowl of goat..." (4.5 stars)
Ron White is a very funny and talented comedian that has a lot of potential, and that potential is very well displayed on his first album, "Drunk in Public." While many were introduced to him through the comedy concert movie, "Blue Collar Comedy Tour," I first heard of him through some of my friends. So, I decided to purchase the CD without hearing the man do a single set. It is a decision that I'm happy I made, because Ron White knows how to show you a good time without breaking a sweat.

White talks about a variety of things on his album... most of them involve drinking. Hence the title of the album. Still, he talks about a lot of other things as well. He talks about being married to a "spoiled" wife with rich parents, and how she can't really do anything on her own. He talks about an experience on a small plane where they were uncertain if they would ever see home again... although, Ron didn't really care since he was drinking. A nervous passenger asks him if one of the engines burn out how far will the other one take them, and Ron casually replies, "Right to the crash site." He even bets the man that they'll beat the paramedics there by a half an hour. He talks about his cousin who loves to hunt, and he talks his loathing of Sears. There's many more on the album, but those are just some of the real headliners.

I really enjoyed listening to this album. Ron White is a very relaxed comic... so relaxed that he actually drinks and smokes during his routine. His set never feels forced or recycled. He's very subtle and confident about his material, and it really shows. His "relaxed" style really works for his routine and makes him a real standout.

The only problem I had with the album is that it's too short. The total running time is a little over 39 minutes long. Usually, comedy routines on albums run about an hour long (sometimes a little less, sometimes even a little more). I was kind of sad that the CD was so short. I remember saying to myself, "That's it?!" It is only a minor complaint, but I still feel that the album could've been a little longer. I'm sure he didn't run out of material.

My favorite tracks are "sunglasses," "truth in advertising," "plane crash," "ten days in los angeles," "outlaw video games," "married to a wealthy woman," "lug nut day," and "they call me 'tater salad.'" I like them all, but those are some of my favorites.

Ron White's "Drunk in Public" is a very funny first album, and it shows a lot of promise for future achievements. Despite it being a tad short, it's still a very worthy listen. I think that he will really go places if he keeps it up. If you're looking for a funny comedian that is subtle and hilarious, Ron White is your man. Don't forget to enjoy a nice cold one when you pop this bad boy into the stereo. -Michael Crane

"I was drunk in a bar! They threw me into PUBLIC!"
Ron White is an incredibly funny and original comedian. Anyone who saw him on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour should certainly attest to that. He rants and raves about all sorts of things in a very interesting fashion. Ron proves that he's not just another typical redneck comedian building off of redneck stereotypes, such as Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy. This is good because he doesn't end up alienating his audience by only telling jokes only Southerners can appreciate.

If you already have the "Tater Salad" DVD, don't bother buying this CD, since the DVD has basically all the same comedy and even more. Also, don't bother buying the Blue Collar Comedy Tour if you want to see "more" of Ron since his skit is basically an abridged version of his act with 1 or 2 new things thrown in.

He is rather crude at times, but if you're not offended by dirty language then you're bound to have fun. I would not recommend playing this for the first time while driving your car, because odds are you'll be laughing so hard that you're bound to be a driving hazard.

This guy is funnier than h---!
We keep trying to find an opportunity to see him live. This guy is the epitome of perfect timing, coupled with a down home delivery. Highly recommmended.

Ron White is great!! Excellent! The only problem...
....is that the crowd laughter at the comedy club is WAY too loud for this disc! You have to adjust the volume while listening because the crowd gets louder than Ron White! The comedy, though, is brilliant and I highly suggest getting this album! His delivery is great; catch him on the Blue collar comedy tour DVD!! ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Super effort from Lynch
I had no idea of what to expect when I watched Comedy Central Presents featuring Stephen Lynch. In hindsight, I realized that what I earned was an addiction. An addiction to a awesome singing comedian. Ever since watching that special, I have been a fan of Lynch. When I received the opportunity to borrow his latest CD from a friend, I took advantage of it.

Having listened to the CD at least a dozen times over in the three or four days I had it, I can say that this is truly a solid album from beginning to end. Every song generates at least a chuckle if not a full-blown laugh.

The biggest laughs for me came from "Superhero" (which is extended quite a bit from the Comedy Central version since Lynch asks fans for superhero suggestions with hilarious results). Yes, Stephen Lynch is offensive, as his song "For The Ladies" makes quite clear. However, there's no denying that he has a certain talent about him. It's enough that he can write very funny material. But the fact that he can sing most of his tunes with the voice of someone you'd expect fronting a rock band, it adds a certain dimension to it.

When it comes to the issue of "Bowling Song (Almighty Malachi, Professional Bowling God)," the truth is that the song is not the funniest thing that Lynch has produced. But the mere fact that he blasts himself for writing the song before and during his playing of the song allows for some laughs. You can understand why Lynch hates it, but if nothing else, it's a rockin' bowling song.

All in all, this is definitely worth a purchase. Yes, you may have heard him perform some of these songs on different radio shows or on Comedy Central specials, but you've never quite heard him like this unless you've seen him in person. Go out and get this now, it's an almost essential album to have if you love to laugh.

My Favorite Comedian!
I bought this cd purely on the basis of two songs I heard him sing on tv. Not only was is great to hear those two songs again, but every single song on this albumn are FAB! Not only are Mr. Lynch's songs extremely funny, they are also well-written and the lyrics are very clever. If he wasn't a comedian, I'm sure he'd have a successful career as a rock star! He has that star quality about him- super good looks, witty sense of humor and he knows how to really rock on the guitar!

I like this cd better than his first release primarily because is was recorded live and he has a wonderful rapport with audiences, an element that was sorely missing from his first CD "A Little Bit Special." (But, don't put that you off buying it because it also is very fun and entertaining!) Not a lot of comics can talk with people in the audience and work the conversation into their routines. Stephen Lynch does this so naturally! Especially in the song "Superhero," where some members of the crowd come up with their own superheros, with some pretty freaky results!

"Talk To Me" is another great song, which has a good beat, great guitar riffs and made me laugh so hard that milk came out my nose! (really) Who else could sing so beautifully about a subject so taboo! Same thing with the song "Grandfather," nothing more sacred than a loved one who leaves you money! (I don't want to say any more without giving anything away!)

I can not find a bad or mediocre song on the albumn, every one will keep you laughing and smiling. Even his self-proclaimed worst song he ever wrote "Bowling Song," which, in my opinion, still brings in the laughs.

I have made all my friends listen to this cd, and every single one of them loved it! If you enjoy stand-up comedy and/or great guitar music, buy this cd. Perfect gift for almost anybody (be warned, he may offend some people. Certainly none of my friends!)

Now all I can ask for is for Stephem Lynch to come tour the UK so I can see him live!!

Laughing Myself Numb
Like a modern, more foul-mouthed Loudon Wainright III, swooping out of the sky comes...Awesome Man? Drug Free Boy? No! It's Stephen Lynch!

Lynch is one of those unique comedians who can make the crassest, most politically incorrect jokes but still be funny. How? He sings them. With such songs as "Down to the Old Pub Instead" and "What If the Guy From Smashing Pumpkins Lost His Car Keys"(a personal favorite), it's hard not to laugh. All that is required is that the listener have a sense of humor about the subjects he approaches and the jokes he makes.

Off he flies, toting his guitar whilst singing about the problems posed by PMS and how he would burn druggies and their paraphanalia(if he were Drug Free Boy, that is!). There is no mistaking. This man is no superhero. He's just a freakin' hilarious comedian on a mission.

Brilliant, better then Bob Saget!
I was first exposed to Stephen Lynch, while watching his Comedy Central performance and found myself cracking up throughout it. When I heard he was releasing cds I immedietly went and bought them. I have to say that this cd is so much better then his first cd "Special." This cd is a taped live performance of his standup and it is easily the best comedy cd I have ever heard. All of the tracks will leave you laughing out of control, making it hard to focus on the road. While Stephen Lynch is a brilliant comedian you will often find yourself laughing at the crowd comments which Lynch rolls with and turns them into great jokes. This cd is great to put in while sitting in traffic or when your angry and tense. Making the mood lite is what Stephen Lynch does, and playing this cd anywhere will do just that. Fans of Stephen Lynch will remember titles like "Superhero" and "Almighty Malachi, Professional Bowling God," but there are a ton of new tracks as well. This cd is exceptional and really is a must for any fan of the genre. Just don't play this cd for your mom!

The funniest CD I've ever heard
I was first exposed to Stephen Lynch on a Comedy Central stand-up special, and he is one of the funniest comedians out there. This CD is awesome; I can think of only one song that didn't have me laughing myself to tears (and he admits in the beginning that it isn't funny). Lynch is a master at pushing the very limits of what is acceptable, and making it funny as hell. I would say, though, that this CD (especially the song "For the Ladies") is not for the prudes. Don't listen to it with your kids, and for God's sake, don't listen to it with your mom! ... Read more

Reviews (173)

Music for strangers to receive great big hugs by
Stephen Lynch is the new and future voice of comedy. And oh what a voice. The man can sing. But what makes Stephen "A Little Bit Special" is his unerring ability to make any moment or situation ripe fodder for his humorous "taint." Yes, I said "taint." From the lovely melody and soft vocal stylings in "Lullaby" that explains exactly "why Mommy left us...", to the ruthless vigor of the chorus of "Altar Boy" this man sells his music. You can sense he enjoys singing his twisted tales as much as you will enjoy hearing them. Every song is good, at worst, and briliant at most. Seriously, how many CD's can you purchase that are 1 - hysterical; 2 - great to listen to; 3 - did I say funny? - 4 extremely "smart funny"; 5 - EVERY SONG IS GOOD? Everyone I have played the CD for (12) has purchased or at least downloaded songs from the web. But please, have a sense of humor, and a couple of hours...you won't want to turn this CD off.

Clever, funny, great music!
I saw a Comedy Central showcase of Stephen Lynch and went right out and ordered it on the web. Once I got it, I laughted my rear end off.

It is a great musical comedy album - and I've owned some great ones in my day. If you like black comedy, you'll love this album.

Afraid of laughing at something that "shouldn't" be laughed at? Then don't buy this CD - it isn't for you.

Not only are the lyrics hysterical, the music (and Stephen's voice) is fantastic. This CD angered my wife, but not because of the lyrics - it was because she finds herself singing the dimented songs over and over because they are so catchy.

I'm just sitting here in California waiting for Stephen to finally get his butt out here for a live show!

Pure Genious
When you hear this man's name, it is reminiscent of such masterful artists as Leonardo Davinci, MichaelAngelo, The Beatles. He is not only a masterful musician, but a top notch role model for the kids. I will leave you with a quote from his utterly scrumptulescent masterpiece entititled "gay".

"but if i were gay i would give you my heart
and if i were gay you'd be my work of art
and if i were gay we would swim in romance
but im not gay, so, get your hands out of my pants."

His music is so real to me, I can taste it, and believe me it tastes delicious. What a wonderful man, nay this is no man, he is one of gods infallible creations.

**I Love This CD**
This CD Is The Funniest CD Since Seinfeld's: I am telling you for the last time. I can't explain everything about this cd because you'll have to listen to it for yourself. What I can say is that Girbil Is the funniest song ever lol listen to the end of the song thats the greatest part of all download it or buy the album for your self to see what I am talking about. I can tell you this Stephen Lynch brings a laugh to your face with Jim Henson is Dead, he sings about how he wants another bite of Ms. Piggy and her tastey pork. Any ways this cd is the funniest so buy it if you dont have it all ready!

Hysterical, just not for the squeamish
If one had to list a fault of Stephen Lynch's unique style of music, it would have to be the lack of universality and the narrower audience he reaches with his ascerbic tunes. Don't get me wrong, I laughed my head off at songs like "Special," "Bitch," "Lullaby," and "Gay." There's just no way this album or even solitary songs could possibly appeal to a broader scope of listeners. Is that always important? No, definitely not, but sometimes it helps to at least throw a bone out there to the masses.

For example, if you are of the mindset that people cannot make jokes about necrophilia, homosexuality, divorce, gerbils, and stippers, this album is definitely not for you. I would avoid it like the plague. For those amongst us that understand a joke is a joke, nothing more, this one should truly belong on your shelves. I have to say even I was offended for one song, and laughed anyways! (It's the hidden track after Walken III; and keep listening for hidden outtakes and Walken IV.)

As for audio quality, the sound is crystal and the mixing was well done. Just shy of a 5-star comedy album. My one true complaint is a lack of intelligence in the jokes and jabs. Definitely a great listen (again, only if you can handle the acidic subject matter) and very very funny. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Biting, sometimes base satire and humor populates this 21-cut comedy-rock debut from actor-musician Jack Black and his band, Tenacious D. Sort of like a trashier, more casual and less musical Beck, vocalist-guitarist Black and guitarist-vocalist Kyle Gass, with help from Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Redd Kross's Steve McDonald, and Page McConnell of Phish, deliver oddball musings that will appeal mostly to fans of the talented Black, whose earned a following thanks to memorable, frenetic turns in the films Hi Fidelity and Jesus' Son. The songs and "bits" include the wonderfully, intentionally melodramatic "Wonderboy," Black ordering "four Chicken McNuggets" on "Drive Thru," and the funny ode to vocalist Ronnie James Dio, where Black observes, "Dio has rocked for a very long time / Now it's time for him to pass the torch." With often intentionally droll and dumb humor smartly executed like a latter-day version of Bob & Doug McKenzie with a dash of Spinal Tap, this more-comedy-than-rock debut is likely to achieve cult status. --Katherine Turman ... Read more

Reviews (135)

Stylish and radiant rock music
Even before this CD came out, I was a big fan of Jack Black as an actor. But when I heard about this comical rock album coming out, I was a bit reluctant about buying it. But I mustered up the courage to pay for it and was pleasantly surprised with the CD. In fact, it's one of the best CDs I own. JB and KG (Kyle Gass) are brilliant rock geniuses that sing songs of love, heroes, politics, and none other than; Satan. And although the two main guys are Black and Gass, other popular musicians do appear (i.e. Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Phish's Page McConnell, Dust Brothers, and Steve McDonald). Here, for anyone who doesn't believe, is a short overview of the 21 tracks (14 songs, 7 skits).

1. Kielbasa - starts off the CD with the line 'dude we gotta fxckin write something here'; letting us know they're singing without a care in the world. The song is hilarious, and very catchy.

2. One Note Song - it's not really a song; it's more of a skit, as JB devises a plan for a song containing only one note (with a bendy).

3. Tribute - aka "the Greatest Song in the World". Here's an excellent tale of JB and KG on a hitchhiking trip in which they run into a demon who asks them to play a song for him. It was a single, and with good reason.

4. Wonderboy - this song kind of sounds like a comic book story. Two characters are introduced: Wonderboy and Young Nastyman, two enemies who later form the band Tenacious D. It was the first single, although not the best.

5. Hard Fxcking - here's a skit about hard fxcking. Pretty funny intro to...

6. Fxck Her Gently - this is a 21st century love song that talks about what women really want during sex. It's very good, and as JB says: 'fellas, listen closely'.

7. Explosivo - this one is a short song with some catchy lyrics and music. I don't really know what it's about; maybe girlfriends or a demon-Satan creature, I don't know. It's good, though.

8. Dio - a rhyme about Ronnie James Dio, in which the D lets us know they'll be taking over for Dio. No questions asked.

9. Inward Singing - JB again comes up with a brilliant plan for rock and roll in this hilarious skit. I believe "Inward Singing" has more swears than any other track. It's very witty, and leads us into...

10. Kyle Quit The Band - 'but now we're back together'. This is one of my favorite songs on the CD, and it tells us how Tenacious D plans to spend the money they'll be earning from becoming famous.

11. The Road - the start has a country-feel to it as Jack Black talks of the hardships being on the road brings him. It's one of the weak points of the album, though.

12. Cxck Pushups - funny, but too unbelievable to believe.

13. Lee - not about too much, it's mostly just words that rhyme with 'lee'.

14. Friendship Test - this skit is funny, as JB tells Kyle he loves him; only for him to realize it was a test. It's not that great, maybe worth an F+.

15. Friendship - 'as long as there's a record deal we'll always be friends', proving time and time again how real the love in Tenacious D really is.

16. Karate Schnitzel - Jack Black doing karate in a skit; hilarious.

17. Karate - this is probably the shortest song on the CD, but also the best. You'll find yourself singing along to the beautiful melodic harmony in this song over and over again.

18. Rock Your Socks - this song starts with a Dave Grohl shout of '1 2 3 4 5 6-6-6!' What more do you need to know? It's awesome.

19. Drive-Thru - this is the best skit on the CD, where JB and KG go through a fast-food drive-thru and order anything from a 4-piece 6-nugget meal to a jr. western bacon-chee.

20. Double Team - here's the best love song I've ever heard. Not really, but this song is so hilarious and pleasant-sounding you will certainly sing along. For some reason, though, they finish it off with a 'hail Satan' chant. Go figure.

21. City Hall - ahh, the epic ending. This is a 6½-minute ode to a new world ruled by two kings: Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who rewrite the rules of man, transportation, and politics with ground-breaking decrees.

Hiddens. "Malibu Nights" (as it's dubbed by JB) evens the score at 1 to 1, going back to the "One Note Song" skit. It's really a hidden gem.

***

As you can imagine, Tenacious D is not for everyone. They are not your average rock & roll band, and their lyrics might be beyond you if lack a sense of humor. But if you do have a sense of humor and you'd enjoy a new twist on rock, Tenacious D is for you. All the songs/skits are good, if not excellent. Jack Black has really taken his career to a new level; and he's taken us fans along with him. Don't overlook the D because they lack real-life lyrical value or because they may be sexist bastards (not really). Their music is very catchy and you will find yourself singing along to it; I guarantee it.

All Hail to the One Note Song! Pure Brilliance!!!!
Actually, all hail to the entire album, because everything about it is awesome. I love Jack Black, so of course I was going to get it. I'm glad I did. These guys are hillarious, as well as also being very musically talented.

Tenacious D combines humor with music. There are great songs along with some of the funniest skits you will ever hear on an album. These guys aren't very heavy. The songs are subtle, but brilliant none the less. You will crack up in laughter and be in awe at the same time. They are great singers and great guitar players. Jack Black really does have a great singing voice.

Favorite songs: tribute, wonderboy, city hall, lee, friendship, karate, kyle quit the band.

Favorite skits: one note song, hard ****ing, inward singing, **** pushups, drive-thru.

A very awesome album, it is. Don't let the humor fool you, these guys are very talented, and should come out with more great songs in the future. Tenacious D truly rock.

Now, stop reading this review and go get the CD!! What are you waiting for?? It's calling your name. (Well, it's not. But get it anyway!)

P.S. Jack Black ripped me off. I came up with the "one note song" years ago. Well....actually I didn't. Um.....Shut up! Leave me alone!

the mixture of comedy and music all in one cd case!!
this album is simply the best thing i have ever heard! Tenacious D really knows how to make music. they only have 2 members (jack black and kyle gass) but they definetly know how to make you laugh and enjoy the music at one time. as we all know, jack black just finished the school of rock and that just came out on dvd not too long ago, and you can watch the mtv cribs episode on there of jack black when him and KG (known as Tenacious D) are doing a song called the taco truck from hell (or at least that is what i think it's called). that song is funny for just the parts i heard from it. that song is funny just like tribute which, by the way, IS really the greatest song in the world! they were just joking about it but i really think it is the greatest song in the world! drive thru is also really funny and then there is that song called wonderboy it is about a story of wonderboy and young nasty man. friendship is funny too, and i guess you all know about jack black's new movie is gonna be king kong with the best director peter jackson!!! yeah!!! if you think jack black's movies are funny then wait till you hear Tenacious D! buy this cd from amazon today for less than $15 and you can also choose 1 day shipping and then you can get it the next day! listen to Tenacious D!

"You're always naysaying everything I create!"
This is a hilarious CD of skits and songs by two comedians who are musicians (or two musicians who are comedians). It includes some goofy songs and skits dealing with topics such as karate, friendship tests, and, of course, rocking. It's very funny, even after several listens, especially "inward singing" and the drive-thru.

\m/
city hall alone is worth the price of admission. those who score lower than 5 surely do not know the power of the d ... Read more

Amazon.com

This collection gathers 19 of Sherman's humorous story-songs. The comic uses original lyrics and pre-existing tunes to poke fun at television shows and consumer items, to send-up the kids and generally riff on early and mid-'60s American pop culture. On tracks like "Pop Hates the Beatles" and "Crazy Downtown," his subject is the generation gap. "Al 'n Yetta" portrays a TV-dependent couple while "Lotsa Luck" describes the complicated hassles of dealing with faulty TVs and new-fangled tape recorders. Sherman assumed his audience had a little knowledge of history, too. On "Good Advice" and "You Went the Wrong Way, Old King Louie," he sings about inventors and French history, respectively. It's hard to imagine contemporary comedians working the historical beat. "One Hippopatami" is a delightfully goofy festival of wordplay that requires only a love of language and a tolerance for schmaltz. --Fred Cisterna ... Read more

Reviews (47)

The ORIGINAL Weird Al Yankovik!
Long before Weird Al Yakovik started entertaining folks with spoofs of famous songs, Allan Sherman had already retired. And yes, Allan Sherman sits along side Weird Al on Dr. Demento's Greatest Hits!

I remember being a kid and listening to my dad's "LP" of "My Son, The Comedian." Even as a young kid I remember laughing at many of the cuts. If only this entire album were on CD! Still, many of the best cuts have been assembled on "My Son, the Greatest."

Audiences of ALL ages will find humor in Allan Sherman's spoofs. Most of the tunes are universally familiar and the topics remain timeless. Add to this Sherman's Borscht Belt twist and you'll be holding your sides.

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! What more do you need to know?
Before there was Weird Al Yankovic there was Allan Sherman, the Godfather of the Witty Musical Parody. This collection only skims most of the cream off of his Sixties comedy albums, starting with his infamous "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!" and ending with his poignant "Hail To Thee, Fat Person." In between you get "A Waste of Money," "Harvey And Sheila," "Pop Hates the Beatles" and "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas" and much, much more. You get the potpourri of "Shticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other," and did you know that John F. Kennedy was once heard singing "Sarah Jackman"? If you have listened to any of Sherman's albums in the past ("My Son, The Folksinger," "My Son, The Celebrity," etc.), then you are going to notice that not all of your favorites are here. But this is the only CD available at this point in time in the history of the universe, so what are you going to do? We make do, people, and then we wait, patiently, for more of the same.

Ready for a new generation.
Allan Sherman was taken away from us much to soon. Even though he probably would have not been as popular as comedians became more vulgar and the times more permissive, I believe he still would have produced many more hilarious parodies like the ones you will find on MY SON, THE GREATEST.

My particular favorites on this good-natured and goofy collection are "Hello, Muddah, Hello, Faddah", "Pop Hates the Beatles", "Sarah Jackman" and "Crazy Downtown". It's good clean fun that I hope will find a home in the hearts of a new generation.

Camp Granada
Most people are familiar with his Camp Granada song "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!". Even if they only saw the ad recently on TV and heard the new version sung by a dog thanking his parents for a flea collar. I grew up hearing and seeing Allan Sherman on radio and TV in the 1960s. My parents had a couple of his records. I scoured for them recently to no avail. I am so glad to see this come out on CD. Even those that did not grow up in the Sixties should find his style of comedy amusing. I thank the producers for having the foresight to re-release his hits if for none other than us baby boomers. For those unfamiliar with him he liked to parody just about anything. Fans of movies like "Airplane", "The Naked Gun", or "Hot Shots!" will probably find him amusing.

5 stars are not enough for this record!
I recently found this cd in the discount rack at a local store, and it immediately caused me to flashback 30+ years to my youth, listening to records (yes, records) in the basement while my parents entertained their company upstairs. Don't let era of Allan's comedy nor the Jewish flavor deter you. His comedy transcends time and culture. This cd is a must for all the forty and fifty-somethings out there. Share it with your children, and by all means, shake hands with your uncle Max! ... Read more

Amazon.com

A good, inexpensive single-disc compilation of Rundgren singles may not be what the world's been waiting for, but it's a fine thing nonetheless. Largely avoiding the big pretensions of many of his post-Something/Anything? albums, this record distills 15 years of releases into a hits-just-keep-on-coming set which makes sense of the sensibility that produced the bemusedly soulful "Hello It's Me," the straightforwardly sweet "Dream Goes On Forever," and the outright goofy "Bang the Drum All Day." --Rickey Wright ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Fairly Good Compilation
As many Todd Rundgren fans know it is very difficult to make a BEST OF or GREATEST HITS album on all of Todd's music. As far as this one goes it is a decent start for people who are just getting interested in Rundgren's great wide variety of music. It contains all of his hits including "We Gotta Get You A Woman", "I Saw The Light", "Hello Its Me", "Couldn't I Just Tell You", "Can We Still Be Friends", and the never ending hit "Bang The Drum All Day". All of these songs are classics in the Rundgren mold, but I really wish there were some more songs from A Wizard, A True Star and Todd. All in all though it does contain some Utopia songs icluding the excellent rocker "Love In Action" from the album Ooops Wrong Planet. Todd Rundgren's major hits are all here making it an excellent addition to any music fans collection, but buyers beware of the last track with Bobby Womack called "The Want Of A Nail".

Great for the casual fan
For over three decades, Todd Rundgren has been one of the highest quality pop-rockers out there, Not many artists last that long, let alone have music that stands the test of thime. Todd's music more than stands the test of time - it's an infinite number of times better than the stuff that has been flooding the mainstream in recent years. To not love this guy's music is the ultimate sin! Okay, enough talk, let's get down to business. Read on for my review of The Very Best Of Todd Rundgren.

PROS:
-If you're a casual Todd Rundgren fan, and you like the songs of his that get played on the radio on a regular basis, this is the compilation for you. All his big hits are here, from the deep and meaningful early seventies tunes Hello Its Me and I Saw The Light, to the much more pop-oriented and keyboard-heavy eighties pop-rocker, Bang The Drum All Day.
-The compilation truly is a "best of" and not a "greatest hits", because it relies on a number of excellent songs that were never popular in any way.
-The album features tracks from Todd's Utopia days.
-The liner notes are very nice. They contain info on Todd's career, original release dates (to the month) for albums and singles.

CONS:
-The major problem with this compilation is its run time. It doesn't fill the eighty minutes you can fit on a compact disc. This is sad, because Todd has so many songs that could have been used to fill the time, and ultimately make the compilation more complete.
-As another review stated, the liner notes (while good) could have been better. I don't like it when an artist disses his or her own music.

OVERALL:
Minor flaws aside, this is an excellent compilation for any casual fan on Todd Rundgren. If you're just a casual fan, don't get a pricey, multi-disc anthology - this will do just fine.

Great for the bewildered fan
I owned and loved all of Todd Rundgren's albums until he formed Utopia and stepped off into outer space. I still stand by the two Runt albums, "Something/Anything," "A Wizard a True Star" and (especially) "Todd" as some of the most brilliant, creative pop-rock ever produced. If you like Todd Rundgren, before you buy this best-of, buy all of those. You also might want to get a couple of other winners from a little later in his career, "Faithful" and "Hermit of Mink Hollow." But after all those, you might want to get this, because it's the best way to get great tracks like "Real Man," "Love is the Answer," "Something to Fall Back On," and "Want of a Nail," without having to expose yourself to the maddeningly tedious side of Rundgren's music, his explorations into generic transcendentalism, accompanied by endless screaming guitar and synthesizer solos, with zero evidence of the humor and soul he shows at his best. None of that music is represented here, luckily. You can enjoy "Real Man" without ever having to listen to "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire," and that's the best favor anyone could do for this gifted, but sometimes self-indulgent, artist.

Can we still be friends?
Can we still be friends? is quite simply one of the most amazingly beautiful and moving and poignant songs this reviewer has ever had the good fortune and blessing to hear.

Good Starter, could have used a couple more tracks
This is a good starter CD for anyone who is learning about Todd's music, but it barely scratches the surface about who Todd is (and thats hard to explain because he kept trying to re-invent himself every LP during his 70's prime) Rhino has a few other 1-CD budget comps of Todds stuff but they are very skimpy - get this one instead to see if you like him or not. (I think you will)

My only gripe is the liner notes which someone should have re-edited, Todd complains a lot about his early music (which I adored).

All his well known "hits" are here, but I would have loved to also have had "Sometimes I Dont Know What To Feel", "Time Heals" and the underrated "Parallel Lines" from his last great CD, "Nearly Human". ... Read more

Amazon.com

As he did with Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest has the uncanny ability to perfectly mock and pay tribute to a music sub-culture. This time around, he spoofs the folk revival scene of the 1960s that spawned the Kingston Trio, Limeliters, and Peter, Paul & Mary with a movie about the reunion concert of fictitious groups Mitch & Mickey, the Folksmen, and the New Main Street Singers. Mitch & Mickey's romance-themed duets sound more earnest than campy, though it's hard not to laugh at the autoharp solo on "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow." The real highlights belong to tracks by the hilarious Folksmen, whose repertoire somehow included a goofy song about the Spanish Civil War ("Skeletons of Quinto"), a harmonizing take on the Stones' "Start Me Up," and a tune seemingly about a train wreck in a coal mine ("Blood on the Coal"). Simply hilarious. --Jason Verlinde ... Read more

Reviews (59)

Fun, heartfelt soundtrack reveals hidden talents
An impressive CD for many reasons. The musicianship is outstanding, especially considering the vocals were performed by actors. The Folksmen (Guest, McKean, and Shearer) perform their songs without the aid of any other musicians and certainly hold their own. "Start Me Up" is a hilarious and catchy cover version of the Rolling Stones hit. The New Main Street Singers have an infectious, cheery sound with impressive vocal harmonies arranged by talented actor John Michael Higgins. "Potato's in the Paddy Wagon" is a funny tune which highlights the vocal talents of Jane Lynch. Mitch and Mickey are my favorite. I've been a fan of Levy and O'Hara since their SCTV days, and yet I never would have imagined that they could sing so well, with such warmth and emotion. "When Your Next to Me" and "A Kiss At the End of the Rainbow" are better than many songs written by "real" musicians, and in my opinion are the standout songs on this album. What other talents could these actors be hiding? Overall, a highly recommended CD for those who enjoyed the movie.

Fun Soundtrack for a Funny Movie
After just catching "A Mighty Wind" last night, I was in line at my local music store purchasing the soundtrack to this movie. I would have done it last night, but the stores already closed.

From the brilliant minds of Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, and company, come the folksy parodies on "A Mighty Wind". This album somehow manages to be both a wonderful folk music album and a parody of one, at the same time. The music is intensely listenable, but you catch yourself saying, "Did I just hear right?", and you re-listen to the song just to make sure.

My favorite songs have to be from the musak-ishness of "The New Main Street Singers". I grew up listening to these harmonic, music brain dead groups, and that feeling is captured brilliantly. They are appropriately brightly sounding, and obscene, if that makes sense. The final song, "A Mighty Wind" just seems right, and as the final song on the album, makes for a great period at the end of this remarklable CD.

The brilliance of parody is extremely difficult to pull off, but the cast of "A Mighty Wind" certainly produced something that surely will be underappreciated by those who aren't in the know.

Be in the know, and buy this album today!

Love the movie, Love this CD
The CD basically contains all the songs that you hear on the movie. I'm not a big folk music person but when I saw the movie I had to get this CD and I love it. I dont think you will regret getting this.

True love lasts forever...
As great as the other songs are (even though they are cheesy, try listening to authentic folk music and try and tell me some of that isn't cheesy), the true stars are Mitch and Mickey a.k.a. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara. From the film to the soundtrack, the course of true love never does run smooth and sometimes doesn't run at all or gets knocked out in the case of M&M. Their love transpires on the film and also on the great soundtrack. Of course who could play a formerly married couple that left true love bitterly, come back together and sing better than Eugene and Catherine who go back thirty years? Their love is certainly apparent in the film (I have to admit I cried when they did not get back together) and certainly on the soundtrack. I actually love the songs they wrote (whether it be together or not) and feel that if they ever get sick of acting, etc. they should get together and grab Mary Margaret O'Hara (Catherine's sister) and make a career jump to music.

Like their love, their songs are bittersweet more so than the other songs. The Folksmen songs (The Skeletongs of Quinto in particular) deal with serious issues in a serious composition with a not so serious performance. And with The New Mainstreet Singers, well, some of their songs don't even make sense and more so for fun rather than serious composing. But the songs of M&M are serious, poignant and at times can even bring a tear to the eye of the listener especially with the case of "One More Time", my favourite song on the soundtrack. If this song had been kept instead of replacing it with "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" there would have not been a dry tear in the audience and certainly the screen would have been covered in popcorn or pop. It fits so perfectly the story of M&M that even listening to it, it makes you wish they got back together (it was even composed by both of them). At the same time it's a beautiful song that probably could have even made it in the mainstream music world (at least for us folk music fans). The harmonies are distantly beautiful and their voices blend all too well.

I guess the soundtrack, even with the film out there, exposes the raw and true talents of Chris and co. The soundtrack is a fine gem with the amazing abilities of all the stars. Just think they not only starred in the film, but improvised all their lines, learned all the instruments and the songs, and then make their own soundtrack. Sort of scary how talented they all are and yet America just hands out Oscars like their chocolate. I say Chris and Co. try for a BAFTA instead of an Oscar next time...

A Mighty Wind... Fun. Lots of It.
Well, the only reason I give "A Mighty Wind" a 4 is because it's not perfect, but what CD is? (You know, I just found out that the best-selling soundtrack is "The Bodyguard.") Anyways, "A Mighty Wind" mostly has fast-paced, upbeat songs... They're usually pretty catchy and humorous, I.E. "Eat at Joe's." (EE-AH-OE'S...*shrugs*) The best song on this album is "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" which reminds me somehow of Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Puff, the Magic Dragon". Anyways, I'd buy this CD if I were you. - A Fan ... Read more

Album Description

GET DOWN WITH THE DICKNESS!

America's loudest lounge singer Richard Cheese is back in black tie with "TUXICITY," an all-new CD featuring kooky lounge-style covers of rock hits. With his swingin' Lounge Against The Machine band, the finger-snapping, liquor-lapping, night-capping crooner turns a round of rock songs into traditional pop vocal standards.

Yes, it's the perfect mix of music, martini, and madcap as Dick delivers shaken and stirring Vegas versions of popular hits like "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot, "She Hates Me" by Puddle Of Mudd, "Chop Suey" by System Of A Down, "Shake Ya Ass" by Mystikal, and "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen. From The White Stripes to White Zombie, from Linkin Park to Cypress Hill, from Guns 'N Roses to Britney Spears, "TUXICITY" is a "fromage homage" to the biggest names in music. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Richard Cheese Rocked Lake Tahoe
I happened to be wandering through Caesar's Palace Hotel-Casino in South Lake Tahoe (Stateline, NV) in 2004 when I heard some really swinging music coming from the Stone Street Bar and Grill. I had never heard of Richard Cheese, but now realize that with TV appearances (including Leno), RC has a cult following. The great thing about his music is that it is swing with a sense of humor. It pokes fun at the overly-serious and heavy handed sound and lyrics of modern rock music-- by doing the tunes in the exact opposite manner than the artist intended. It creates a fun-loving mood, and musically, the band and Mr. Cheese's voice are very enjoyable.

Some time ago, the squeaky-clean Pat Boone came out with an album "In a Metal Mood" that was meant to be a joke-- on it he swung Ozzy Ozbourne's Crazy Train, and that became the theme song to the TV show "The Osbournes." Richard Cheese expands this concept.

I guess I 'get' it...
But the arrangements are so dead-on perfect, and the voice is a pleasure to listen to; so if your sound is out-of-style,have fun with it. Put-on, maybe, but definitely not fake.

I'M DOWN WITH THE DICKNESS
After catching Dick and the boys at the 2001 HFSmas Nutcracker, I went right out and picked up their first CD (having just heard most of it live). I then got this CD when it was originally released only through the website. It is an excellent follow-up full of more jazzed up covers from a wide range of sources. Cuts 1-19 (F.Y.I. - track 11 is just live stage patter) are followed by a brief radio station ID cut (unlisted track 20), 7 "clean" versions, and a hidden 28th track that contains the most hilarious rant I've ever heard. Also, be sure to pick up the new LATM CD, I'd Like A Virgin, next week. See you at the lounge.

A Must Have!
This album is a must have for any avid music fan. This CD is BRILLIANT. Really fun at parties!

So wrong it's right.
Words cannot do this album justice. It's strange to hear lounge versions of modern songs, but after the strangeness (and hilarity) wears off, the songs grow on you and a couple aren't too bad to groove to. Until you've heard the lounge version of "Shake Ya *ss" by Mystikal, you haven't really lived. Mr. Cheese is the Poet Laureate of the our generation. Even if you don't care for lounge music, you've absolutely got to hear the talented Mr. Cheese's covers. I highly recommend this album. ... Read more

Album Description

You want your '80s! Fer sure! This is the mother of alltributes to the era of skinny ties, Reaganomics, andPac-Man! Seven CDs, 142 hit songs, from New Wave to Pop toR&B to Hip-Hop to Novelty, including an incredible 49 #1tracks! Starring Queen, New Edition, Duran Duran, RichardMarx, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Men At Work, Toto, The Cure, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Simple Minds,Bangles, New Kids On the Block...and many more. Plus a90-page book with hundreds of historical photos, facts, and memories from the decade that wanted it all! Limitededition sculpted rubber cover! Approx. 10 x 8 x 3/4 inches. 2002. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

Doesn't compare to Rhino's 70's box
Okay, I'll concede this point: If you like a lot of 80's pop, from "new wave/new romantic/synth pop" to metal to plain-old top 40, you'll enjoy the music. I'll also concede that the art direction is both amusing and top-notch, in typical Rhino style. Their box sets are beyond compare in terms of presentation.

The problems: Almost all of these songs have been released on other 80's compilations, and many on Rhino's own product. Billy Crystal's novelty song is probably the rarest thing here. This is a general beef with Rhino, which reissues the same one or two tracks by a certain artist over and over as opposed to picking a lesser known hit. My guess is that most people likely to buy a package like this probably has at least some of Rhino's "Just Can't Get Enough" series, perhaps some of their Billboard 80's discs, and some other companies' compilations. I end up feeling like I pay $10 to $20 per song, or end up buying a package because I like the packaging! (It's true -- suckers are born every minute.)

What's most disappointing, however, is that Rhino did a much better job with their 70's box set. The 70's box set DID contain a few rarities from some big name artists. In fact, their "Have a Nice Decade" box is the ONLY place I'm aware of that one can buy the single version of David Bowie's "Fame" on cd. Similarly it was one of the first cd's to feature the single edit of Gladys Knight and the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia." These are just two examples. The only unusual sounding mix I heard on this box was the Romantics' "Talking In Your Sleep", and I didn't listen closely enough to be sure that there was something different about it.

The 70's box also had many interesting sound bites from the 70's (Nixon, Patty Hearst, etc) placed at amusing points during the program. The 80's box contains NO sound bites. This makes this box set more of a collection of tunes and less of an "experience." Sure, the music alone evokes nostalgia but sound clips from Reagan, Bush, Quayle, or "Murphy Brown" would have been interesting. Imagine a soundbite from the news of the shuttle exploding right before Peter Shilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)". That's the kind of fun the 70's box provided.

I also thought the first essay in the booklet was lame, but that's neither here nor there.

I know that my critique may seem overly harsh to some. If I were reviewing this only for people who didn't have any 80's music on cd and wanted a great amount and variety of tunes, I'd certainly recommend this at the 5-star level. Somehow I don't think that is the primary market envisioned for this.

Is this enough '80s music for you?
My biggest gripe is this: there are seven CDs in this package, and my CD player only holds five CDs! :-(

OK, seriously, this is quite a comprehensive collection of 80's music, and just about every genre is represented to some extent. There's Eddie Rabbit, Blondie, New Edition, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Devo, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, just to name a few. Of course, though, it is heavy on the pop numbers, and it certainly brings back memories of high school for me, particularly since the collection seems to lean heavily toward early to mid '80s music. There's not much on it after 1987, which doesn't bother me personally, but I would have liked, for example, "We Didn't Start the Fire," by Billy Joel.

Indeed, that is the one problem with this collection, but that can be said for any collection. For all the wonderful songs on there, so many more were left off. There's nothing by A Flock of Seagulls, Journey, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and each artist that is there is represented only once. Why was The Thompson Twins represented with "Lies" and not "Hold Me Now" or "Doctor Doctor"? Where was Howard Jones? Still, it was well worth the money.

Now, I just need a CD player with more spaces . . .

Nice overview - may be addictive...
Be forewarned, the sugar-coated empty calories found in the LIKE, OMIGOD... box set from Rhino will just leave you wanting more. 142 tracks across seven CDs and it just scratches the surface on a shallow, yet oddly endearing decade.

LIKE, OMIGOD... hits almost all of the popularly acknowledged high points, including "867-5309/Jenny," "Tainted Love," "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," - as well as great novelty numbers and underground tunes like "Pac-Man Fever," "Da Da Da," and "Turning Japanese." While not in strict chronological order like Rhino's 70s set, HAVE A NICE DECADE, LIKE, OMIGOD... is well-sequenced and provides a relatively satisfying trip - as well as a great set for any party. No need for "random play" here - just load this set, hit "play" and dance away.

While this set is almost certainly a one-stop shop for the music fan simply looking for a well-balanced 80s collection, the completist and discerning collector will no doubt view this as the tip of the iceberg. Those such as myself, more enthralled with the simultaneous New Wave movement, will find lots more to love (approximately 300 tracks worth - with minimal duplication) in Rhino's 15-volume JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH 80s collection. Even then, LIKE, OMIGOD... will spur you on to fill up your shopping cart with with entire albums by Billy Squier, Duran Duran, The Fixx, Pretenders and more.

The only downside to be found is that LIKE, OMIGOD... also forces the listener to take the bad with the good (or the worse with the bad?), presenting end-of-the-decade stinkers such as New Kids on the Block and Richard Marx toward the end of the seventh disc. For this listener, those musical tragedies are still too recent, too terrible to revisit with any degree of nostalgia.

As gaudily packaged as the decade it represents, LIKE, OMIGOD... is presented in a hardcover book format identical to HAVE A NICE DECADE and contains a similar full-color booklet complete with essays, trivia, 80s timeline and notes on each of the performers and songs included. The sound of the CDs, as with all Rhino product, is pristine. As for the sound of some of the music - well, you can't blame Rhino...

FREAKIN' AWESOME COLLECTION!
I can't tell you how many 80's compilations I have and, aside from each of them usually having the same couple songs, like The Fixx or Squeeze, (which isn't on here), you're always surprised when you listen to a compilation by which songs you hear that you never knew the name for and all of a sudden you're "like, omigod! (no pun intended) That's THAT song!?! I KNOW that song!" LOL...hearing a lot of these brought back some great eighties memories for me, even though I was only a kid back then. This compilation had most of my fave 80's songs on it, so I could just copy the one or two songs off my other compilations, make one CD out of them, and sell the rest. I advise anyone who's interested in this to do the same. But read Amazon's list of songs first, if you haven't already, to make sure your favorites are on here. Definitely worth the money, considering you're getting seven CD's, so it equals out to about ten dollars or so per CD, (I got mine for $73). As further proof, I'm letting my co-worker listen to disc 6 right now and she's so impressed, she's downloading it to her hard drive at work and will be purchasing it with her next check to bring it home! :-p If you love 80's, get this compilation. No collection is complete without it. Plus, the awesome booklet it comes with gives you a little info on each song, a historical timeline following the songs, and many many many colorful photographs! Impressive and worth it!

A must for any 80s fan!
Like, OmiGod! This set is awesome! It has almost every song that came out from any one hit wonder during the 80s like You Dropped a Bomb on Me (The Gap Band) and Turning Japanese (The Vapors). It's definitely a pop culture box with its songs on General Hospital, Pac Man and Valley Girls. This is a must for anyone who still dwells on the decade of E.T. and The Breakfast Club. Not to mention that I'm a huge Star Wars fan and it has a medly from The Empire Strikes Back. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In the wake of the '80s comedy boom that made casual obscenity and bodily functions safe for TV, a listen to these '50s classics from a piano-playing Harvard grad student with a thin singing voice sounds tame if not quaint. Yet Lehrer's first two self-produced albums, among the first generation of comedy LPs, remain beloved gems of musical parody, and noteworthy for their original success in an era when their topics were strictly taboo for broadcast media. He kids cold war paranoia ("We Will All Go Together When We Go"), sends up then-hip folk revivalists with a cheerful murder ballad ("The Irish Ballad"), and gets laughs out of incest ("Oedipus Rex"), drugs ("The Old Dope Peddler"), and racism ("I Wanna Go Back to Dixie"). Closer to Gilbert & Sullivan (whom he in fact raids for one melody) than Def Comedy Jams, Lehrer can still raise a modern frisson when he plays necrophilia as romance ("I hold your hand in mine dear, I press it to my lips/ I take a healthy bite from your dainty fingertips..."). --Sam Sutherland ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Happiness returned
In the sixties an enlightened uncle bought my brother and me a Christmas Present LP 'Songs by Tom Lehrer, and a year later 'More Songs'.

These 'went down a treat' at twenty-something parties; unfortunately they also 'went down a treat' with one party goer and went with him or her. A recent BBC radio programme ran interviews with the Prof. together with a selection of his songs, and prompted me to search the net successfully for the re-issues.

So, after 30 years the performances are as fresh and cynical as ever, and surprisingly little dated - as is evidenced by the younger reviewers

I love it and I'm young!
I'm 18 to be exact, and lets just say Tom Lehrer was the subject of my college application essay (I'm going to Berkeley). I was ever so glad when this cd came out, it comprised the two album I had yet to find. I recoment it to everyone I know, everyone can understand it. His lyrics are so simple, yet genious, the man is amazing, his power over humor is greater then any comiedian today. he has a talent for rhyme and a emmence vocabulary, like in such songs as: Lobachevsky, When You are Old and Gray (my favort rhyme flow), The Elements(The ulitment rhyming machine), and other great works like Oedipus Rex, and Clementine. What makes Tom Lehere so powerful is if your dumb you'll get his humor, and if your smart you'll really get it.

Sir William Gilbert reincarnated
His tongue twisting lyrics and rapid fire humor are very reminiscent of Gilbert & Sullivan's works. They lack some of Gilbert's intense political jabs, but I even hear a bit of retired hippie hiding in the background. I wonder what he could do writing a musical?

With a chuckle (and a snicker)
THat says it all. Surprisingly (or not so) I can sing all the lyrics along with Tom. But then again, I have been aquainted with his songs since childhood!

Some of these songs a little dated - we have after all moved beyond the MLF. However, Lehrer's wicked humor and good natured cynicsm still communicate to us all. Have fun listening and learning these songs.

The smartest, funniest records I've ever heard
I grew up on Tom Lehrer. My parents had both of his 10" LPs and we listened to them often. His 60s albums were dragged out EVERY time we had a party and often just when we had the stereo turned on. I had every single song Tom Lehrer ever did memorized and I have NEVER heard a comedy artist as perceptive or as intelligent as Lehrer.

Then things changed, as they will. I moved away from home, never bought the CDs and pretty much forgot about him. Recently, though, the issue of academic integrity reared it's ugly head in a discussion and I found myself quoting Lehrer's 1955 masterpiece, "Lobachevsky." It was perfect for the moment. I was asked what they hell I was talking about and to illustrate Lehrer's genius, I wound up singing "The Elements" (the entire periodic table sung to a Gilbert & Sullivan tune) and "The Hunting Song" (a brilliant parody/analysis of hunters and gun advocates).

After 35 years, there's not a single song on this collection (first two albums of piano & singing, 4 orchestrated versions and one bonus track) that isn't funny AND perceptive and only a couple have become (only slighty, mind you) dulled by time. ... Read more

Amazon.com

On Lounge Against the Machine, alt-rock hits get the Vegas treatment way before their time. Vocalist Richard Cheese and his piano trio really know how to warp a song. Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio" sounds smooth as silk, if incredibly schmaltzy, in the hands of this wayward lounge act. The Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia" gets completely defanged in Cheese's rendition. And it's definitely strange to hear the rage drained out of Nirvana's "Rape Me" and replaced with bland, mindless enthusiasm. The tone of these covers is so far removed from the originals that at times you forget what you're really listening to. At moments like these, Cheese and the boys sound like some anonymous combo going through the motions. But then you'll hear the singer let loose with some foul language or croon a harsh line and it sounds downright strange and funny. Lounge Against the Machine can be tiresome at times, but it certainly takes the piss out of these songs. --Fred Cisterna ... Read more

Reviews (37)

The Same Machine, Now With 60% Less Rage!
This is a very funny CD if you know the original songs, or even if you just know a few of them. The best part about it is that RC makes the songs amusing without changing a single word. In a time when most of the top-selling music is all about rage and angst, Richard Cheese takes the lyrics of some favorites and rearranges them in the context of snappy, jazzy lounge music such as you might hear Wayne Newton singing in Vegas. You almost expect him to end each song with "Thank you, I love you all, enjoy the buffet!"

The liner notes explain just how Richard Cheese thought that these songs had great lyrics that would appeal to wider audiences if they were just played more clearly to show their social significance. The irony of this statement is played out in full at particular points on the album, such as when he croons "Rape me, my friend" in his swingingest, loungiest best. I recall that the satirical "Politically Correct Fairy Tale" books had a similar introduction about making the stories safe for children.

It's a fun album to listen to. Some of the lounge versions of the songs are pretty cool in themselves. I like "Come Out And Play" and "Creep," as well as "Last Resort." It's a great send-up of what sells in today's music market. But somehow it fails to offend, even for those who like the originals. I give it four stars because a couple of the tracks aren't so much amusing as annoying. But it'll have you thinking about what other songs would make good swing versions.

SPREAD THE CHEESE AROUND
I was lucky enough to hear this entire CD live at this year's HFSmas Nutcracker on December 1st (2001) at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. Warming up the crowd and filling in between the first few bands, Dick and the boys powered through all of the songs listed above with hilarious results. While most of the fun and humor of it all was lost on the majority of the underage crowd (to include my 18 year old son), my buddy and I laughed our tails off. Like Beavis and Butt-head, the crowd only got a rise out of Dick's deadpan cursing. Go figure. I guess Dread Zeppelin is over their head too. Anyway, this CD is a really enjoyable change of pace to listening to the originals (but will never replace them). Elevator and dentist's office music should be this cool. I can only hope Dick and the other "cheeses" (everyone in the band has a cheese name) are hard at work on their next CD (Cheese Disc?). Meet you at the lounge.

come on, give it upp for Cheese!
dis is da singel bestest al bum yu can buy! itz got all my favrite toons frum da erly 90's and dey have been remixed wit a vengence. His softly croonig voice singing aboot rape and cutting life intoo peces jest melts my hart! da classics have been taken to an even classicaler levul!!!

Perfect Parodies
Most song parodies don't hold up to repeated listening, no matter how hard they make you laugh the first time around. (Seriously, how many times can you listen to a "Weird Al" album all the way through?) Richard Cheese's "Lounge Against the Machine," which reinterprets Gen-X Rock-of-the-Nineties hits as lounge music, is different. This is an album you can listen to several times over.

There are several things that raise this record above the level of your average Dr. Demento silliness. First, "Cheese" is parodying two genres for the price of one. He's not just poking fun the angst-ridden anger of the songs he covers, he's also mocking the lounge revival, so the humor works on two levels. Second, he's an accomplished singer, and he and his band have taken a lot of care in arranging the music--more than you'd expect from a jokey record like this. Third, some of the songs work frighteningly well as lounge numbers--Radiohead's "Creep" in particular.

The joke wears thin on Cheese's followup "Tuxicity," but if you appreciate this sort of thing, "Lounge Against the Machine" is definitely worth owning.

terrible
I heard some of the songs off this cd at a store and I have to say it is a disgrace to every single band whos songs are on the cd. It is not funny, entertaining, or original in any way, and if Kurt Cobain were to hear the Cheese guy sing Rape me, he would be rolling in his grave. So take the 12 bucks for this cd and go out and buy the cds with the actual songs on them. I would have given it 0 stars, but the lowest it went was 1. ... Read more

Reviews (360)

Will not go down in history as Al's best
It is a rare thing when Weird Al makes an unfunny parody ... so when he manages not one, but TWO, it bodes poorly for an album. Here the mediocre parodies are "Trash Day" (Nelly's "Hot in Here") and "A Complicated Song" (Avril Lavinge's "Complicated"). Neither is particularly inspired (in fact, it seems like Al had three bad ideas for "Complicated" and decided on them all--and that makes the title the funniest bit), but part of that may be the fault of the songs themselves.

I expect at least one bad original song on every Weird Al album, and here Weird Al produces not just one but *three* original stinkers: "Hardware Store," "Wanna B UR Lover," and "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" are all dull, generally unfunny, and don't even have good music. Then there's "Genius in France," which is musically fascinating, but lyrically stale (can't we get over this stipid French-bashing obsession, America?).

That isn't to say that there's nothing worth listening to! If half the album is take-it-or-leave-it, the other half is brilliantly funny. "Bob" is the unexpected gem, and the work of sheer genius. The rest of the parodies are all funny; my favorite is definitely "E-Bay," a song that one can only fully "get" if one shops there, and "Ode to a Superhero," which does such a great job of lampooning Joel's original spirit and lyrics that it's easy to forget he's just singing a movie plot (something it shares with his "American Pie" parody "Episode 1"--the best thing to come out of PHANTOM MENACE!). And of course there's "Party at the Leper Colony," which I expected to be stupid but was giggle-inducingly funny.

Even though it isn't his best, it's still Al! And I'll still be there when he gets to Detroit in August for his concert tour.

Al's back!
After nearly four years since "Running With Scissors", Weird Al comes back with "Poodle Hat", quite possibly his weirdest album yet. The meat of any Weird Al album is his parodies of recent pop hits, and he delivers. "Couch Potato" the first track, is a hilarious send up of Emimen's "Lose Yourself". Such a shame that Eminem wouldn't allow a video of this song to be made. "A Complicated Song" is a howlingly funny parody of Avril's "Complicated" and "Trash Day" actually tops the original "Hot In Here" by Nelly. "Ode To A Superhero", which tells the story of Spiderman to the chords of "Piano Man" and "Ebay" a parody of Backstreet Boys' "My Way", rounds out the parodies of this album.
Which leads to the original songs, which are more often than not extremely weird and it holds true here. "Hardware Store" is surprisingly catchy and you'll find yourself humming it to yourself for years after. "Party at the Leper Colony" is just plain goofy, while "Why Does This Always Happen To Me" is absolutely brilliant. The others, "Bob", "Genius In France" and "Wanna B UR Lovr" are good, but don't hold up as well as the others. And what Al album would be complete without a polka compliation of all the latest hits songs, which you can find in the cleverly titled "Angry White Boy Polka".
There are also some nifty extras for your CD-ROM. A photo gallery and eight bonus mixes (mostly instrumentals) are available, and the crown jewel, a hilarious ten minute video of Al showing off and commenting on his home movies from his youth.
All and all, a VERY good album. Let's just hope it doesn't take another four years for the next one!

Best "Weird Al" CD Yet!
In my opinion, "Poodle Hat" is the best CD that Al has released to date! All of its songs are really funny, the parodies, the traditional polka meldy, and the origanals. When I first got this CD, I was in the hospital, and I listend to it at least twice per day. It includes parodies of Eminem ("Couch Potato"), Nelly ("Trash Day"), Avril Lavenge ("A Complicated Song"), Billy Joel ('Ode to a Superhero"), and The Backsteet Boys ("eBay). The origanls are also extreamly good. If you like Palindromes, then you'll love "Bob", a style-parody of Bob Dylan where every line is a palindrome. The other style-parody is on Frank Zappa, intitled, "Genius in France". And "Wanna B Ur Lovr" is one of, if not the, best songs Al has ever written. If you have to chose which "Weird Al" CD to buy, you should deffinatly buy this one!

This has to be, perhaps, his best yet!
People aren't giving this album enough credit where, I promise, credit IS due. This is a fantastic album, with great parodies, hilarious originals, and spot-on musicality all around. Let's start at the beginning.

1. Couch Potato--Somehow, Al always manages to make hip-hop sound not as craptacular as it really is...probably because he uses REAL instruments to create it. The lyrics in this are perfect. Parodic masterpiece. 'But I only watched Will and Grace one time, one day! Wish I hadn't, 'cause TIVo now thinks I'm gay.' A

2. Hardware Store--One of my favorite originals I've heard yet. This, for me, is ranking up there with Harvey the Wonder Hamster or the Night Santa Went Crazy. Once again, Al displays his articulate nature and lyrical prowess, especially in the bridge section, where he just starts spitting them out rapidfire. A+

3. Trash Day--Now, this was a stupid, ridiculous, shouldn't-have-ever-been-written song in the first place, and Al tears it to shreds. Well done...not the best song on the album, but hey...there's been a LOT of crap worse than this in the past 4 years since Running W/ Scissors. B+

4. Party at the Leper Colony--Classic Bo Diddley-style licks with fun lyrics. One took me a while, but gets me every time, now. A

5. Angry White Boy Polka--Need I say more? A+

6. I Wanna B Ur Lovr--Okay, now, this one just floored me completely when I first listened to it. Al is not only creating a style parody, or even a very specific artist style parody, but a double whammy...This is perfect emulation of Beck during his Midnite Vultures phase...parodying Beck who was parodying (in his own Beck-ish way) Prince. A++++

7. A Complicated Song--iffy subject matter, but just hilarious, when you come right down to it. A+

8. Why Does This Always Happen to Me--Holy returned favours, Batman! Ben Folds guests on this track. Contains the line 'So I turned around/ And stabbed him in the face.' How can you go wrong? A++

9. Ode to a Superhero--Picked a great song to parody, big movie...I didn't like the movie, but that's just me...great song, though. Piano man/Spider Man...it's a natural segue. A

10. Bob. A+. That's all I have to say.

11. eBay--Poking fun at Satan is FUN!!!! Taking out the Backstreet Boys while your at it gets you a (no pun intended) A++

12. Genius in France--Dweezil Zappa joins Al to pay tribute to his old man (Dweezil's, that is). It sticks it to the French, too. People have, unfortunately, labeled this song as an 'Albuquerque' wannabe, but it's completely autonomous. It's another homage...and well played, too. A+

FUN AND FUNNY!
My family has all of Al's records and CDs and went to one of his concerts a year ago, so how does this new CD stack up?

1. Couch Potato- parodies "Lose Yourself" by Eminem and mentions every TV show from Spongebob to Will and Grace. Excellent syncing, but what's up with the missing sounds in the chorus? B+

2. Hardware Store- rivals "Nature Trail to Hell" as the best non-parody song by Al ever. Excellent, especially when he lists all the tools really fast. A

3. Trash Day- parody of "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. Doesn't trump "Couch Potato" but good nonetheless. B

4. Party at the Leper Colony- Ultra-generic sounding tropical shindig song. Uses every leper joke in the book. B-

5. Angry White Boy Polka- A stupendous medley of songs by Papa Roach, System of a Down, the Vines, the Hives, White Stripes, Strokes, Disturbed, Rage Against the Machine, POD, Limp Bizkit, Staind and Eminem. Once again, stupendous! A

6. Wanna B Ur Luvr- Disturbingly seductive and funky. B

7. A Complicated Song- parody of "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. Expect constipation and decaptitation jokes. B+

8. Why Does This Always Happen to Me- the typical exaggerated, Weird Al-type lament. B

9. Ode to a Superhero- parody of Piano Man by Billy Joel. Sling us a web/you're the spider man, all about Spiderman the Movie. Uplifting. B+

10. Bob- Sounds like Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan, as I'm told. Nothing but palindromes here. B

11. Ebay- parody of "I Want it That Way" by Backstreet Boys. The Backstreet version didn't have many lines to parody, so Al milked all he could out. B

12. Genius in France- I heard Dweezil Zappa helped Al with this. Perfect if you hate France. Uses many stupidity jokes. B+ ... Read more

Amazon.com

The king of pop parodies returns with another zany collection of tunes that poke fun at pop culture. There are a handful of undeniably funny moments--notably "The Saga Begins," which pairs the tune to Don McLean's horrendously sentimental "American Pie" with the plot to the first Star Wars prequel, and a fun, nonstop-dancing polka medley of late-'90s hits that starts with the Spice Girls and ends with Semisonic. Overall, Running with Scissors is well-executed and actually humorous, but the material is a day late and a dollar short. "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" is funny once, maybe, but the majority of the disc consists of tepid takes on yesterday's news; the best jokes are devoted to Jerry Springer, Eddie Vedder, the Swing craze, and this place called Silicon Valley where they make computers. Why didn't someone tell Weird Al that a parody of Nine Inch Nails' lifeless industrial pop would have already sounded dated in 1995? It must be hard to stay on top of all the current trends and parody them as they happen, but that is something that Weird Al has done in the past, and perhaps will do again. --Mike McGonigal ... Read more

Reviews (433)

RUN WITH SCISSORS TO GET THIS!
My family has all of Al's CDs and records and were recently at one of his concerts. How good is this CD?

1. The Saga Begins- parody of "American Pie" by Don McClean. All about Star Wars Episode One. Very nice. A-

2. My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder- Why would Al's wife be in love with the Pearl Jam frontman anyway? C

3. Pretty Fly For A Rabbi- parody of "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" by the Offspring. Expect many odd Jewish words. B+

4. The Weird Al Show Theme- the theme to Al's dearly departed show on CBS or NBC, I forgot. Very stupid! B

5. Jerry Springer- parody of "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies. Extremely raunchy but well-sung. B

6. Germs- very dull at first but gets better at the end. C+

7. Polka Power- includes Al's renditions of songs by Spice Girls, Marcy Playground, Marilyn Manson, Hanson, Beastie Boys and more. Very good! B+

8. Your Horoscope For Today- apparently, I should get ready for an unexpected trip when I fall screaming from an open window. And I should work a little bit harder on improving my low self esteem: I'm a stupid freak. A-

9. It's All About The Pentiums- parody of "It's All About the Benjamins" by Lil Kim and some other bozos. Great work with those computer geek terms, Al! A-

10. Truck Drivin' Song- a kid in my 6th grade class (back in 1999) said this is making fun of Al's wife. Must be a cross-dressing song. Creeeeeepy. C+

11. Grapefruit Diet- parody of "Zoot Suit Riot" by Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Oh boy, get ready for ALL the fat jokes Al left out of his old hit "Fat"! B

12. Albuquerque- Get ready for 12 AND A HALF MINUTES of the sad story of Al's childhood with saurkraut, a plane crash near Albuquerque, a run-in with a huge Albanian hermaphrodite with a Flock of Seagulls haircut and only one nostril and meeting Zelda, a calligraphy entusiast with a slight overbite and hair the color of strained peaches. B

Weird Al, The King With The Midas Touch
Weird Al Yankovic, the King of Parody, strikes gold with "Running With Scissors," arguably his best album yet, and highlighted by the single best song he's ever done, "The Saga Begins." To the tune of Don McLean's "American Pie," "Saga" captures the story of "Star Wars, Episode I, The Phantom Menace" to perfection; it's all there, and it's brilliant. Pearl Jam fans especially will get a kick out of "My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder," but even those not familiar with them will get the drift, and it's hilarious. Then there's a foray into the world of high-tech, computers and the internet in "It's All About The Pentiums," with a great line, "What kinda chip you got in there, a dorito?" Also included in the twelve cuts is the obligatory polka piece, "Polka Power!" And yes, there's one about food, "Grapefruit Diet." Country fans get a taste with"Truck Drivin' Song," and television talk show host "Jerry Springer" gets the treatment in a song about a guy addicted to the show. This is one funny album from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it to anyone just looking for a good time and plenty of laughs.

I love this album except for one thing.
When he parodied Sean "P Diddy/Puffy" Combs' "It's All About the Benjamins" he parodied that annoying rock remix version with Foo Fighters leader/ ex- Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. I like both songs (P Diddy and Weird Al's) but I can't stand the instruments used in this version. I think Weird Al should used the music from the original version of P Diddy's "No Way Out".

One of Al's best albums
It's hard to believe Weird Al Yankovich has been at it for over 20 years now. "Running with Scissors is the follow up to the mega popular album "Bad Hair Day." A lot of expectations where put out and Al doesn't disappoint us.

Al give us a good mixture of new material and parodies. The one knock that can be said against the paraodies is the lateness in a lot of them. The Saga Begins is a hilarious song. It came out a little to late after Star Wars Episode One. Al didn't get the MTV exposure like he did on Amish Paradise and the song flopped in that area. The song however is great writing by Al and is quite funny. It goes along great to American Pie and is one of the better parodies written by Al.

It's All About the Pentiums is a fantastic song. The one knock again is how late Al was with this song. If he had put this out right after Puffy had lost some of his popularity instead of a year this could have been a hit. The internet had also lost some it's mystic awe by this point and was available in more homes. The song however is great songwriting and Al proves again he is rap. It's got some great computer dialogue.

Grapefruit Diet is a great song. Al does a perfect job writing a perfect paraody. Everything sounds good and its a perfect parody of Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin Daddies.

I didn't like Germs. Why do you go out and paraody Nine Inch Nails at this point. Nobody is talking about them anymore. Why parody Offspring at this point. Pretty Fly for a White Guy was so overplayed on the radio and people were sick of it. Pretty Fly for a Rabbi is a wasted song. It's good song writing that will only be appreciated by his fans and not all of the public.

The new material is good. I love the polka song. It's got a lot of hits from the late 90's from semi-sonic to the spice girls and more. Jerry Springer is a great song and it's one I think should have gotten some radio play. Al could have had a field day if he had made a video for this song. Albuquerque is one of the funniest songs Al has written. It's over 11 minutes long and is full of great lines and plenty of energy.

Thi is a fantastic album. It's got lots of great material. I wish the album had come out earlier though. This could have such a big album, but despite that I love it. It's funny and has lots of great songs. Mad props to Al for making a great album.

Al Doesn't Disappoint
This is a great Weird Al CD. Al doesn't disappoint and this may be his best album yet. I going to break it down and rating every song on a scale of 1 to 27.

The Saga Begins - This is a parody of "American Pie". Al sings another Star Wars song and while in my opinion it's not as good as Yoda it's still good. Rating: 23

My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder - Al sings a song about a jealous guy whose girlfriend falls in love with Eddy Vedder. Rating: 18

Pretty Fly For A Rabbi - Parody of "Pretty Fly For A White Guy". Al sings about a rabbi who really knows his shtick. Rating: 20

Weird Al Show Theme - The theme song to Al's short lived Saturday morning TV show. We learn Al really makes a mighty fine
Jellybean and Pickle sandwich (for what it's worth). Rating 24

Jerry Springer - Parody of "One Week". Al sings about everyone's favorite trash TV show. Rating: 19

Germs - A song about... germs. Probably my least favorite on this disc but still good. Rating: 16

Polka Power - One of Al's polka melodies. Rating: 21

Your Horoscope For Today - Al takes the funny idea of fake horoscopes and runs with it. The result, hilarity! Rating: 25

All About The Pentiums - Parody of "All About The Benjamin's". A song all about computers. Being a geek, this is one of my favorites. Rating: 26

Truck Driving Song - A strange, strange song that could have only come from the mind of Weird Al. Rating: 19

Grapefruit Diet - Parody of "Zoot Suit Riot". Al sings about a fat guy that goes on a Grapefruit Diet. It kind of felt like Al was trying to use some the fat jokes left-over from when he wrote "Fat". Rating: 18

Albuquerque - My favorite song on this album. There's really nothing I can say to describe it but trust me it's good. Rating 27 ... Read more

Amazon.com

This double record from 1972 remains the definitive collection of Rundgren's long career. With Rundren acting as a one-man-band for three-quarters of the session, it was also his bid for a Ph.D. from the college of musical knowledge. He deserved the degree for simply writing the lead-off track, "I Saw the Light," a melodic pop-rock gem that remains Rundgren's greatest hit. Rundgren excels at Beatles-esque pop-rock ("Couldn't I Just Tell You," "Wolfman Jack") and Philadelphia-styled soul ballads ("It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference," "Hello, It's Me"). He also sticks his toe into heavy metal ("Black Maria"), jazz-rock fusion ("Breathless"), and cerebral pop ("The Night the Carousel Burnt Down"). Like most double albums, there's fat on the play-list, but the best of Something/Anything gave credence to Rundgren's boast of being a wizard and a true star. --John Milward ... Read more

Reviews (45)

An underrated pop/rock masterpiece!
Todd's Something/Anything is one of the most sensative and poignant rock albums ever! The blend of soft harmonies, strong melodies and surreal atmosphere create a utopian listening experience! Can there be more haunting and beautiful tunes as "Marlene", "I Saw The Light", "It Couldn't Have Made Any Difference" and "Your Saving Grace". Todd rocks too... but it's the pop sensativities throughout this tour de force that make it one of the finest albums of this century! I first heard this album in 1972 and still look forward to hearing it. True musicians know....long after Billy Joel, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton are in the grooveyard..Todd Rundren's Something /Anything will live on.

sometime/anytime
i've been listening to music since i can't remember when, and certain albums from my childhood (few, a very precious few) have stayed with me through the decades and have continued to make a huge difference in my life. creedence's "green river" is one. bowie"s "station to station" is another. but while spending a year plus living in the vaccuous vegas desert, i had the great fortune to remeet another old childhood friend that i thought had left me long ago. as you are reading this under the particular context, that record, is, of course, todd rundgren's, "something/anything?".
as fresh and relevant today as it was when released 29(!) years ago, this baby never fails to deliver, and in a variety of musical styles. you get todd as pop god--"i saw the light", "hello it's me", "coudn't i just tell you?"--todd as soulful balladeer--"it wouldn't have made any difference", "cold morning light"--todd as tortured punk--"little red light" and "slut" (with the pre-tin machine sales brothers).
lots of the songs are completely undefinable pieces of whimsy--"the night the carousel burnt down", "it takes two to tango", while others still go down a road impossible to peg--"black maria", "i went to the mirror".
two discs, twenty-five tracks, and not a dog to be seen.
these are songs filled with meaning, and grace, and a real soul behind them, laying it all on the line.
words fall short when it comes to describing great music, so if you're not in the know about this record, do yourself a favor and pick it up. it just may change your life, as it has changed mine, and perhaps more importantly, continues to do so.

Absolutely mind blowing..and not even his best work!
After crafting a perfect pop album on "The Ballad..", Todd took it to the next level with "Something/Anything?", a sprawling double album broken up into four parts. With the exception of the fourth side/part, Todd wrote and played all of these songs himself - every word, every instrument!

Part 1: A bouqet of ear catching melodies

1. I Saw the Light

The first of two big hits that Todd scored off this album. I'm sure you all know it. A classic pop song.

2. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference

A sad piano ballad (save the upbeat bridge) that would've fit in perfectly on Todd's previous album. Fits in great here, too.

3. Wolfman Jack

A catchy, upbeat, Motown inspired romp whose title is a reference to a famous radio DJ. Again, amazing vocal delivery from Todd, ranging from a very high falsetto, to his normal singing voice, and even a spoken word, "jive talkin" segue in the middle.

4. Cold Morning Light

Another heartbreaking ballad, but a little more complex than "..Difference". The verses are in 4/4, with a dainty accoustic guitar line that repeats throughout. Then, it switches into 3/4 time for the chorus.

5. It Takes Two to Tango (This is for the Girls)

Another catchy, upbeat song.

6. Sweeter Memories

A slow burning ballad, kinda psychadelia-lite. The organ touches in the background will make you want to fire up that lighter and sway it back and forth.

Part 2: The Cerebral Side

7. Intro

An amusing spoken word bit from Todd.

8. Breathless

An *awesome* instrumental that really foreshadows the direction Todd would take on "A Wizard, a True Star". The main melody is a heavily synthesized blend of jazz, dance, and psychadelic pop, with a honky tonk inspired break in the middle.

9. The Night the Carousel Burned Down

My favorite song on the first disc. This is really Todd's first ballad that wasn't about love or heartbreak. He plays this on a pipe organ (or probably a synthesized version of one, no less), which really gives it a Carnival/Amusement Park feel to it. Theatrical and great.

10. Saving Grace

Despite the bizarre intro (you'll see), it's another great pop song. This one would've fit better into the "bouqet of ear catching melodies", because that's exactly what it is.

11. Marlene

Another "celebral" ballad in which Todd confesses his love for a 17 year old girl. It's a little repetitive, and tends to drag, but it has some of Todd's best vocals in the background where he REALLY hits those high notes.

12. Song of the Viking

Just a really cool song. It's a fast paced, Gilbert & Sullivan inspired mini pop opera with Todd going to town on the piano. The lyrics are humorous and light hearted, but all of the rapid chord changes make it one of the more complex songs on the album, musically.

13. I Went to the Mirror

From fun to plain bizarre. It starts with Todd playing a bluesey piano melody as he mumbles (yes) lyrics about looking in the mirror. At the end, Todd goes into an intense jam session on the guitar. Psychadelic-Blues!

Part 3: The kid gets heavy

1. Black Maria

The psychedelia at the end of Disc 1 continues right into Disc 2 with this blistering blend of hard rock and R&B. This one must've been great to see live!

2. One More Day (No Word)

The kid certainly does NOT get heavy on this one. You'll picture yourself being saranaded along the Venice Canal, or sitting in a sidewalk cafe in Paris, when you hear this one.

3. Couldn't I Just Tell You

One of the best songs Todd wrote. Rockin' and cathcy: power pop at it's best.

4. Torch Song

It's a slow piano ballad, but it's emotionally very heavy. Great lyrics + great delivery = way underrated!

5. Little Red Lights

Call it hard rock, call it proto-metal, call it whatever you like, but make sure to turn the volume up all the way!

Part 4: Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots

In case you're wondering, this is Todd's lighthearted mock pop operetta that was recorded live in the studio with a bunch of people (sax, trumpet, horn players, backup singers, etc).

6. Overture - My Roots

The closest thing to filler on the album. It's a couple of old cover songs that sound like they were recorded on a Fisher Price tape recorder, in a basement or garage.

7. Dust in the Wind

An absolutely beautiful song. Very soulful piano ballad. Love the saxophone work during the bridge. FYI, this is WAY better than that other "Dust in the Wind" song!

8. Piss Aaron

From heartbreaking to hilarious. This goofy little song has Todd singing about some colorful high school characters from the past. Todd's delivery will make you laugh.

9. Hello It's Me

We all know this one! Originally written when he was in The Nazz, this version is much better: an infectious blend of soul, jazz, lounge, and of course, pop.

10. Some Folks Are Even Whiter Than Me

Silly title, but it's a little deeper than it may seem on the surface. Musically, it combines blues, funk, and a touch of jazz (love that sax!). Underrated.

11. You Left Me Sore

This one went over my head the first time I listened to it. A great song to promote safe sex, if nothing else!

12. Slut

First off, the dialogue before this song is hilarious (Ya think this would've been such a critically acclaimed album if he *did* change its name to "Throw Money"?). Anyway, a fun, hard rocker to close out the album.

There it is! Pop, rock, soul, blues, jazz, psychadelia, theatre, etc. A very complex work, yet still accessible. And that's why it remains Todd's most critically acclaimed and popular album (not to mention it has two of his biggest hits).

Best Songs: The Night the Carousel Burned Down, Couldn't I Just Tell You, Breathless, Cold Morning Light, Torch Song, Dust in the Wind.

Todds finest hour!!! Two Thumbs Up!!! A+
This is Todd's finest album!!! A treat from start to finish!!! Most of his hits are here!!! Hello It's Me, I Saw The Light... AWESOME!!! Highly Recommended!!! Five Stars!!! A+

Todd's Most Popular Album
Todd Rundgren's double-album SOMETHING/ANYTHING? (1972) was a diverse juggernaut of catchy pop, R&B/Soul, hard rock, psychedelia, scatological humor, and other styles which may be difficult to classify. However, the album is fairly accessible throughout. It was this album that Todd received a huge slice of mainstream success. However, since many had perceived him *solely* as a soft rock/ballad writer, Todd chose to abandon mainstream rock for many years after this album - making some of the most experimental music this side of any notable experimental artist. The unfortunate misconceptions and the willful misrepresentation of an artist's creativity has been bestowed upon other artists as well (Queen comes to mind), which misleads listeners into thinking that an artist specializes in one particular style, and therefore, helps to blind fans from enjoying an artist's work to it's fullest when an album is bought, and listened to in it's entirety. Or perhaps, it's just simply that many listeners are staunch in their listening preferences, and wouldn't be able to tolerate hyper-diversity from the start.

Getting to this album. The album is divided into four distinct halves, and Todd plays all of the instruments, and provides all of the vocals for the first three halves of the album. The first half (Disc 1, Tracks 1-6) is called "A Bouquet of Ear-Catching Melodies," and is comprised of mostly catchy, melodic pop tunes. "I Saw The Light" has been compared to Carole King. While his vocals seem like Carole King, the music on this track is much more upbeat and energetic than any typical King song. "Wolfman Jack" makes me wonder if it was inspired by the television host of the same name throughout the 70s. A fun, catchy, 50s-like track. "Cold Morning Light" is probably my favorite from this half. A lovely, airy, melancholic R&B ballad featuring Todd performing some wispy, poignant vocals.

The second half (Disc 1, Tracks 7-13) is called "The Cerebral Side," and is comprised of cerebral, experimental and/or psychedelicesque tracks. The Intro is Todd giving the listener a tour on studio functions. Quite a fun and interesting listen, while "Breathless" is a indescribable instrumental blending psychedelic, symphonic, R&B and dance flavors filtered through electronics. "Song of The Viking" seems like a tribute to Gilbert & Sullivan, as it's a quirky, show tunes-rock track. Todd doesn't have a British accent, so it's interesting hearing his voice backed up by a mostly British style of music. Fans of Queen, Gentle Giant, Frank Zappa and selected others will be especially fond of this track. Listen to this track, as well as many others on this album, on a good pair of headphones to catch many of the subtleties that may otherwise be missed.

The third half (Disc 2, Tracks 1-5) is called "The Kid Gets Heavy" and shows a more rocking side to Todd Rundgren. "Black Maria" is a slow rocker, while "One More Day" is a tasteful, soulful number. "Couldn't I Just Tell You" is unbelievably tasty and infectious - so much so, it hurts to listen to this at times. It's that good. The vocals, guitar strumming - everything here is excellent, while "Little Red Lights" is a scorching rocker, featuring roaring distortion to resemble that of Jimi Hendrix. The fourth half (Disc 2, Tracks 6-12) is called "Baby Needs A New Pair of Snakeskin Boots," which is a live in-studio recording featuring a full band, and is supposed to be a rock operetta. Each track features silly, funny comments and shenanigans at the end and beginning of each track by band members, which are made to look like dialogue, and are reprinted as such in the sleeve. "Dust In The Wind" is a poignant ballad with some tasteful, R&B-esque guitar, sax and lovely vocals, while "Piss Aaron" is an hilarious song dealing with a person who has trouble with his bladder. "Hello It's Me" is the elegant Philly Soul/jazzy ballad that everyone probably knows Todd Rundgren by. However, when hearing this song in the context of the rest of the album, one will have the right perspective regarding Todd's musical personality, as the dialogue heard before and after the song ends was never heard on the radio. This offers an interesting perspective. "You Left Me Sore" is also somewhat hilarious, at least when hearing the dialogue. This song is something of a double-entendre: it can mean that the protagonist was left sore due to his love leaving him, or it could mean he was left sore - literally, after contracting a venereal disease. You decide. While "Slut" is a Rolling Stonesesque rocker to close out this juggernaut.

This album is definitely the recommended place to start as you get the essence - the closest you'll get to the FULL essence - of Todd Rundgren's creativity, and arguably at it's most accessible. The album is infectious, diverse, cerebral, intelligent and utterly moving. Don't believe the idea of Todd being just a ballad writer, as his styles run the gamut. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Pop has a good time eating itself on this collection of Doctor Demento favorites. The tunes on this stylistically varied double CD send up a plethora of pop culture phenomena. The perpetrators come from every imaginable entertainment background. Pro wrestlers, folk singers, comedians, actors, garage bands--you never know who's liable to produce a novelty song. Here it doesn't matter if a respected composer or a one-hit wonder recorded the ditty; all sorts of tracks jostle each other on this funny collection. The material covers quite a time span, ranging from Spike Jones's "Der Fuehrer's Face," released in 1942, to "Wappin'," an unreleased track by Darrell Hammond and Christopher Snell which was a hit on Demento's radio show at the tail end of the 1980s. The 20th Anniversary Collection is quite an assortment of the corny, goofy, wacky, and wild. --Fred Cisterna ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Best CD-Set in the Demento Series
This double CD is the best of the series. It features nutty numbers like "Poisoning Pidgeons In The Park" and "Dead Puppies" as well as the well known Weird Al Yankovic song "Eat It". My favorite in this bunch of novelties is Jim Backus' "Delicious" (this actually made the top 40 back in '59!). If you haven't yet sampled any of Dr. Dementos compiliations, you should start with this one rather than any of his other "anniversaries". The rest are filled with lame songs by unknown (or forgettable) artists. Demento is pricy, too, so anyone not seriously looking for strange novelty stuff, there are better deals out there!

The best of Dr. Demento's collection of novelty hits
You simply cannot please everybody when it comes to putting together an album that professes to include "The Greatest Novelty Records Of All Time" as Dr. Demento does for this 20th Anniversary Collection. I take one look at the playlist and want to know where is Groucho Marx singing "Lydia the Tatooed Lady" and probably everybody has a different "Weird Al" Yankovic song they would rather listen to than "Eat It." But then it is not like this is the only collection the good doctor has thrown our way. This 20th Anniversary Collection does include a good number of "must have" novelty hits, from "Cocktails for Two" by Spike Jones and "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" by Allen Sherman to Steve Martin's "King Tut" and "The Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Tom Lehrer has always been my personal favorite and "The Masochism Tango" is one of his best. There is also the quintessential novelty song with Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" (although your taste might run towards "Purple People Eaters" or my friend the "Witch Doctor"). The most important thing is that is you do not have a Dr. Demento collection, then it is almost impossible to have even half of these songs. These are not songs you want to listen to every day, but every once in a while you need to get up and hop around the room to the "Monster Mash." Despite any holes you might see in what is included, "Dr. Demento's 20th Anniversary Collection" is the best offering from the good doctor to date.

While not all of the best, definitely a good colelction
When I got this CD, I expected it to be based on the record album compilation similarly named. It wasn't. Still, it's a truckload of great demented songs that'll keep your toe tapping and your belly laughing. It was just missing some of my favorites, though over time most have since been released on other demented CD's.

The perfect carpool collection....
When I was a kid there was one crazy dad in the neighborhood that collected novelty and party records- and looked for any excuse to play them- usually for us kids. There are recordings here that I haven't heard for 30 years- and several that I never heard before. There was also some stuff here that I think that I may have heard before at parties, but it was so far into the evening before anyone had the guts to play it that I'm not really sure....
If you want to drive your carpool crazy on the way to work, then this is the perfect collection for the job. Actually, if you just want to make a permanent impression on people, turn the stereo up full blast, roll down the windows, and play "Masochism Tango" or "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"....they'll never forget you. In fact, they'll probably even write down your license plate number....

This Is SO COOL!
This Is The Greatest Album By The Doctor. It Features A Lot of Great Stuff Like BOOT TO THE HEAD By The Frantics, Pencil Neck Geek By Frank Blassie, The Time Warp By The Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast, Fish Heads, The Purple People Eater, Dead Puppies, And Others! Love The Dr. Demento Show. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This three-CD set collects many of Tom Lehrer's tunes, described by Time magazine as "brilliant and coruscating parodies," bringing back a bygone era when the "liberal consensus," as Lehrer calls them, knew who they were and could, therefore, laugh at both themselves and the well-defined enemy. Delivering clever, witty rhymes about topical subjects was Leher's strength. In "Wernher Von Braun" [the Nazi German scientist who later worked for NASA], Lerher sings: "I'll sing you a tale of Wernher Von Braun / A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience / Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down / 'That's not my department,' says Wernher Von Braun." Using a rollicking piano as accompaniment, Lehrer will remind some of Mark Russell, the current political satirist, but Lehrer's more pointed humor and grating, nasal voice make him a much tougher listen. His Jimmy Durante-like delivery, however, doesn't completely trump his truly quick mind and clever use of language. --Wally Shoup ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Satirist for the ages
The first time I heard a Tom Lehrer song was in one of my classes in junior high school circa 1972-73-Later on,I started listening to Dr.Demento's nationally syndicated radio show & found out that Lehrer is a regular fixture of that program-This box set is fantastic!!!-Lehrer is truly possessed with a rapier like wit & he's one hell of a songwriter-Certainly if a DJ were to play some of the more salacious songs like "Smut","I Wish I Were in Dixie","My Home Town",& "Masochism Tango",he would probably be out of a job (Excepting Dr.Demento,of course)-Disc 3,which is comprised of songs that Lehrer wrote for the short-lived TV series "That Was The Week That Was",are obviously dated by today's standards,but they're still quite hilarious-I also enjoyed the book that came with this set-The Dr.Demento bio on Lehrer's career makes for great reading-It's too bad that Lehrer has packed it in for good-Just think,he could've come up with more topical material such as Watergate,the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair,Reaganomics-the possibilities are endless-Anyway,lovers of satire,take heed & purchase this boxed set-You won't regret it.

Lavish treatment of this generation's greatest satirist
Tom Lehrer is one of the greatest anomalies in popular music: he burst on the scene for a dozen years with five albums (two of which where essentially live versions of studio recordings), then retired into academia, not performing in public for decades. To further discourage any chance of his becoming popular, his song medium was "novelty" parody and social satire, both of which tend to have short shelf lives.

Despite all this, Lehrer's pointed wit has remained popular among a small but passionate group who appreciate brilliant, cutting comments about the hypocrisies of our race relations ("National Brotherhood Week"), collegiate life ("Bright College Days"), and parodies of every song type.

This box set combines all of Lehrer's previously released albums, plus a smattering of bonus tracks, including songs written for the children's show "Electric Company" (who would've thought that the man who wrote "Masochism Tango" and "Vatican Rag" would be a good educational influence on children?)

The real bonus of this handsome box set, however, are the (hard-cover bound!) lavishly illustrated liner notes, which include an interview, notes, complete lyrics, and rare photos. Rhino did its homework on this one, and it shows. It would've been nice to hear some of the real obscurities ("Physical Revue" or the "Subway Song"), but I guess those would entail another studio session.

There are only a handful of novelty songwriters who deserve this kind of treatment, and none with the relatively limited output that Lehrer has. Congratulations, Rhino for a beautiful package on one of the seminal performers of this age.

America¿s great musical satirist
The complete Tom Lehrer oeuvre is to be found in this outstanding box set. For the uninitiated, Tom Lehrer was a recording artist, whose incredible wit and singular ability to comment on politics of the time with a hummable melody is unparalleled. Contained within are his first two studio recordings, which allows the listener to focus on the clever melodies and wordplay, but the real gems are his three live recordings where audience reaction to Lehrer's outrageousness and his command of a crowd are on fine display. College fight songs ("Fight Fiercely, Harvard"), folk music ("The Irish Ballad," "Clementine"), and even the Boy Scouts ("Be Prepared) are all fair game. Lehrer is at his finest when creating a melody that is pleasant and enjoyable and then putting in lyrics that horrify the listener. (Ex: "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" which is simply one of the funniest songs ever.) Included are some recordings that Lehrer did with a full orchestra, that work very well (Although Lehrer himself was not totally comfortable recording them).There are some relatively new cuts that Lehrer did in the 90's and a special treat for those of you who grew up in the 70's, Lehrer's songs for The Electric Company, which are still a lot of fun, but this is basically everything that Lehrer did during his relatively brief musical career, before returning to academia. I discovered Lehrer's work in the 70's and am glad that this set exists for my listening pleasure. (Now that I've written all these nice things, Mr. Lehrer, can I go home now? Please?)

Most beautiful box set I've ever seen
Tom Lehrer is brilliant, and some of the other reviews will eloquently tell you why. Chances are if you are looking at thsi item, you already know his brilliance. Even if you have the original CDs, you may want to get this, for it is the most beautiful box set I have ever seen. The hardcover, full color book has fun comments, Mad Magazine excerpts, and all the lyrics. The only improvement I could think of is I wish the "Critical disdain for Tom Lehrer" sticker that is on the shrink wrap had been put in a place where it could stay in good condition.

Repetitive Redundancy
I love Tom Lehrer's work, BUT... When you buy this boxed set, don't expect each of the CDs to have unique songs. The same songs appear on all three CDs. They may have been recorded at different times, but I had hoped to purchase a set of CDs with unique songs on them. Too much redundancy! ... Read more

Amazon.com

"If, after hearing my songs," Lehrer says in this disc's liner notes, "just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while." Makes him sound like a modern punk, eh? Not so, though. Lehrer, ever the king of jolly vitriol, recorded these still potent parodies in the '50s--and the best of them, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Masochism Tango," and "The Elements" (which joins science with Gilbert & Sullivan) remain both nasty and striking. Musically, Lehrer comes across like a demented Cole Porter, wrapping sophisticated, showy tunes around his acerbic jokes. Lyrically, he's a clear forebear to folks like Phil Ochs and Barry Crimmins, who also cloak their commentary in comedy. --Michael Ruby ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Hardly A Waste!
I was introduced to Tom Lehrer 11 years ago by my then drama lecturer. I never got the chance to thank her by introducing me to the clever wit of this genius. Lehrer was tackling topics in the '50s and '60s than some still skirt around today. This was the first album of his I heard, and it still remains my favourite. The audience is right behind him on this recording. to think that Lehrer actually put his albums out on his own indie label. . .a trendsetter even then! This album was released with a corresponding studio album of the same material (MORE OF TOM LEHRER); I prefer these songs in a live setting. While some of the songs might have dated somewhat, I guarantee you'll get more than one belly laugh out of the clever, caustic wit of Tom Lehrer, the U.S.A's funniest mathematician.

POISONING PIGEONS IN THE PARK - Delivers a poisonous dose to all those 'Springtime walking in the park with my love' type songs.

BRIGHT COLLEGE DAYS - Come on, all of you must have heard a school song you wanted to cringe at. They're trotted out at every school reunion.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL - A carol celebrating the monetary (and the montonous) aspects of Joyous Yuletide.

THE ELEMENTS - Inspired by the tongue twisting genius of Danny Kaye and the music of Gilbert and Sullivan. Lehrer sings the periodic table of elements! I wish I could've heard this song much earlier . . .it could've stopped me from failing high school science!

OEDIPUS REX - A title soing that never was for the movie version of Oedipus Rex. "Of all ideals they hail as good, the most sublime is motherhood". LOL!

IN OLD MEXICO - A ballad of Old Mexico; complete with a half a ton of angry pot roast, Lehrer's brother's pet dog Rover, typhoid, dysentary, and a stolen wallet!

CLEMENTINE - The traditional singalong as reworked by Cole Porter, Mozart("Or one of that crowd . . ."), a bebop beatnik, and Gilbert and Sullivan.

IT MAKES A FELLOW PROUD TO BE A SOLDIER - Tom Lehrer was in the army for two years; from January 1955 to January 1957. This track is full of characters he could have rubbed shoulders with during this time, but most likely didn't.

SHE'S MY GIRL - Despite all your lover's faults (inability to cook, bathroom habits), you still love her/him. This track could use a bit of a gender swap, though.

THE MASOCHISM TANGO - A tango for all you gluttons for punishment who want the love for your partner to be a flame, not an ember.

WE WILL ALL GO TOGETHER WHEN WE GO - This should have become an anthem for the 'anti-nukes' and 'anti-war' protestors from the '60s til the present day. It packs the same punch as the early Dylan protest songs or the later electric ones by the Turtles, Country Joe & The Fish et al.

Genius!
I am a teenage folk music fan who discovered this CD upon one of my regular browsing sessions at Borders, and picked it up on a whim after listening to the first two tracks. Tom Lehrer is a comedy genius--this has to be one of the funniest comedy recordings I have ever heard. In this day and age where Weird Al Yankovic is the favorite satirical recording artist among music fans, it is amazing to listen to this album and see how much Lehrer was ahead of his time, as well as how funny these songs are even after over forty years. But the the funny songs are not the only pleasure of this recording--I was also duly impressed with Mr. Lehrer's ability as a pianist. For more musical comedy fun, check out CDs by the folk artist Loudon Wainwright, III.

Quality always holds up.
One reason why the great songs of Tom Lehrer hold up after all these decades is that some of the issues they cover have not gone away. The Cold War may be over, but the weapons remain. And anyway there are other ways Armegeddon may arrive. Misunderstanding between the sexes will never vanish.

But I think the real reason Tom Lehrer's "An Evening Wasted..." has held up so well for so long is that his humor and craft are top quality. We still read Mark Twain's acerbic satires. Will Rogers is still an American icon, while others have come and gone. And in the tradition of Twain and Rogers, Lehrer, while commenting on contemporary conditions, takes them and twists them in a way that is nothing short of brilliant. And, without realizing it, has given us a better understanding of his times, while making us laugh (or weep) at ours.

Forget all that heavy stuff: this is just a darned funny collection!

hilarious
I have to say that I would never have piccked this CD up and listened to it if it hadn't been for my dad. He listens to the oddest selection of music, so I, being his child, have grown accustomed to it; but this CD was the best out of all my dad's CDs. Although I am only a teen, and I do not understand all the references, political and otherwise, the CD gave me a chance to sit back and relax for 45 minutes and laugh. I enjoy Lehrer's dry sense of humor and it is entertaining to try to decifer what Lehrer is saying(as in the song The Elements, has to wait till I took chemistry to figure out what all he was saying!).
ok, basically what I am trying to say is that this CD is just perfect!

The far side of music. . ..
Tom Lehrer really WAS a Harvard Professor, but his work in math didn't get him what he most dearly loved -- money. So, despite the counsel of several friends and coworkers (none the same, alas) he launched off into a musical career that shall remain infamous for a lunchtime! From defiling cutesiness in Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, to the almost serious "The elements," Lehrer never fails to amuse old and Jung alike.
Remember that Lehrer told us that an Innuendo is "An italian suppository."
This album is dangerous: you may repeatedly fall out of your seat trying to listen to it. ... Read more

Album Description

1997 compilation on MCA featuring the best that Capt. Kirk &Mr. Spock recorded for the label between 1967-1970. Includesmaterial from all four of Nimoy's albums & Shatner's 'The Transformed Man'. Wacky fun ranging from Broadway numbers toprotest songs to Shakespeare narrations to covers of Dylan &Beatles tunes! 24 tracks in all, including Shatner's covers of 'It Was A Very Good Year', 'Mr. Tambourine Man' & 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' and Nimoy's covers of 'Abraham, Martin And John', 'Put A Little Love In Your Heart' and 'Sunny'. ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Mister tambourine man... MISTER TAMBOURINE MAN!!!
I love so-bad-it's-good music, so obviously I had to have this CD. There's so much superlatively, deliciously, appallingly bad stuff on this CD it's hard to know where to begin. Most of the CD is taken up by Nimoy, but the few Shatner tracks scale heights of awfulness that few other artists have even approached (not even Bobby Goldsboro). "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that method acting and popular songs are not a marriage made in heaven. In fact, together they are possibly the worst songs ever recorded by anyone anywhere. I challenge you to listen to these two songs back-to-back and decide which is worse -- perhaps that's something man was never meant to know. The Nimoy tracks are not quite as spectacular, but there are many highlights there too: "Highly Illogical" is delightfully awful, and "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" is completely demented (it's a favorite on the Dr. Demento show). The rest of the songs are mostly just evidence of Mr. Nimoy's incredibly mediocre singing voice; some of them, like "Both Sides Now" should be included on a future compilation entitled "Good Songs Sung by Bad Singers". This CD is a treasure that you'll enjoy for years, although not for the reasons the artists intended.

A great cure for a bad mood
Being a fan of the Golden Throats Great Celebrity Sing-Off, I thought "Spaced Out" would be a worthy addition to my collection of weird music. And this disc definitely does not disappoint in the weird department.

Nimoy has more disc time than Shatner does, but since Shatner tends to recite Shakespeare at loud decibels more than anything else, this really isn't a problem for me (though I must confess his "Hamlet" is strangely catchy). And if you're in a bad mood or have had a rotten day, "Spaced Out" will definitely bring a smile to your face.

Certainly, we're not talking great musicians or great music here, which anyone even casually acquainted with Nimoy's and Shatner's musical efforts should already know. Nimoy doesn't screech like Shatner, which is in his favor. However, though Nimoy tries really hard, he can't seem to stop himself from going off key from time to time, as is the case in his rendition of the legendary Bobby Darin's "If I Were A Carpenter."

But - it's his very off-keyness and his earnest enunciation (he pronounces EVERY syllable of EVERY word, unlike most rock "artists" who think mumbling is cool) that makes this disc...well...hysterically funny. (And his spoken-word Spock-isms like "Highly Illogical" are a scream too). And of course, Shatner's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" are always good for a laugh. It's so bad, it's good, as the saying goes.

But for the record, I also want to note that some of Nimoy's tracks actually aren't that bad. For example, he does a very passable rendition of "If I Had a Hammer" wherein he actually does sing on key, and his "I Walk the Line" is certainly no worse than Johnny Cash's. In fact, Nimoy's "I Walk the Line" may even be better than Johnny Cash's, since Nimoy actually sings, whereas Johnny Cash talks his songs.

So - to sum up - buy this disc. It's a great cure for a bad mood or a rotten day - and you may be surprised at how some of Nimoy's tunes aren't half bad!

Star Wars Rules
Now, while I appreciate the fact that two trekkers have made utter fools of themselves on this record, I have to wonder why Han Solo and Chewbacca never got their own album!?!?! Han is clearly tougher than Spock, and Chewbacca could kick Kirk's butt across the klingon territories. I just don't understand this logic. Here would be my ultimate album:

1. I Raped Kirk - Darth Vader and the Vaderettes
2. Shove Those Pointed Ears (Up Your Bum) - The Cantina Band
3. Scotty's Got Alzheimers - Princess Leah (feat. Snoop Dogg)
4. Chekov Is A Wigger - The R2D2 Posse
5. Grand Moff Tarkin Should've Been Named Grand MUFF Tarkin (Because He's A Pussy) - The Lightsabres

so please do us all a favor, and all Star Trek fans please kill yourself now. do it. Live Short And Prosper.

After reading these reviews...
I've already been laughing for the past 45 minutes, and I
just ordered the album - it hasn't arrived yet. I think Amazon
is missing a marketing opportunity by not charging people to
read these reviews, because they're hysterical!

Nearly flawless oddity
Has any recorded moment surpassed the intense dementia of Shatner's final scream in "Mr. Tambourine Man"? Do we really want to know?

This absurd CD opens the window to two cult favorites who found second careers as outlandishly kitsch performers. Much has been said of Nimoy's earnest, flat baritone; the reams of Shatner critiques could fill a large, easily combustible windmill -- but that would be too convenient, and a loss to people like me who occasionally need to be reminded why they (and others) actually listen to this stuff -- closely.

These recordings are either dizzying, hardcore, lovable dreck, or, to some, aural manure. History won't decide: you will, if you dare.

I have a complaint about this disk. Yes, just one, about two selections. One of the "Nimoy" tracks doesn't belong here for any reason, as it's nothing more than forgettable lounge muzak with zero artistic input from the Green One. "Music to Watch Space Girls By" sounds like a Herb Alpert outtake where he forgot his trumpet. Also, "Spock Thoughts" is just "Desiderata" recited blandly over third-rate background noise. I can do better, and so can you.

Instead, the compilers should have included "You Are Not Alone," a hideously warbled message of solidarity in this vast, impersonal universe (certainly a theme dear to Spock), and "Alien," a superior spoken dissertation on, well, alienation. They're featured on some other CD that costs nearly $60 used. I'll stick with my cut-out bin cassette for now.

The highlights of "Spaced Out" for me are the most famous offerings: the delirious Shatner takes on Dylan and the Beatles, plus the Nimoy novelty "Bilbo Baggins." The "Golden Throats" CD includes a quizzically-voiced, faded-in lead-in to Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky" edited off for this CD, but it seems we completists will always suffer a little. Also not to be missed are the bathyspherical depths of Nimoy's faulty tone and phrasing found on "Where is Love" and "Sunny"; the pure, howling turgidity of his deconstruction of "Proud Mary"; and a horror actually released as a single (according to the entertaining sleeve notes), and possibly written just for the Vulcan maestro -- "I'd Love Making Love to You," which exudes as much sultry seduction as a frozen duck on an antenna.

I try to imagine how the backing musicians made it through these sessions without screaming themselves, and wetting the floor with laughter.

P.S. I don't know how to create the "voting buttons." ... Read more

Amazon.com

It would be impossible to capture all the things that make the game great--the drama, the humor, the roar of the crowd--on one album, but the folks behind this sprawling collection come pretty darn close to hitting for the cycle. Old-time faves like Les Brown's "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" segue into modern tributes such as Bill Slayback's "Move Over Babe, Here Comes Henry," while such tangential yet groovy chestnuts like the Intruders' soul standard "Love Is Like a Baseball Game" and Rockin' Richie Ray's utterly unhinged "Baseball Card Lover" are guaranteed to make even nonfans cock an ear. Interspersed among the songs are spoken interludes, ranging from classic comedy bits like Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First" to moving memories such as Lou Gehrig's famed farewell speech. Baseball's Greatest Hits is a one-of-a-kind collection. --David Sprague ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Puts me in the baseball mood
This is a great baseball CD.

True you probably would have to create a 10 CD box set to cover all the great songs of baseball, but this CD will get you started on a private collection.

I have an mp3 file of the Who's On First bit, but this version is 10 times better since it has been digitized.

Joltin' Joe, the Willie Mays Song, and D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh Really? No, O'Malley) are songs you'll find yourself singing along with.

My two favorites on this CD are Land of Wrigley and Dying Cub Fan's Last Request. Steve Goodman really makes last request a good listen. What a good singer.

Talkin' Baseball is also a song you'll be singing along with, and you'll be picturing baseball days of old.

The Lasorda recording is classic, and had me laughing the hardest.

Baseball Dreams is the kind of song I could picture putting behind a highlight film.

The only two major downsides to this CD are the recording of We Are the Champions not being sung by the right group, and I just can't listen to Casy At the Bat more than once every so often. That reading really gets on my nerves.

Other than that this is a perfect CD to begin a collection of great baseball songs. Get this for playing in the car on your way to the next baseball game, or at your childs little league game.

Best CD ever!
"Baseball's greatest hits" is a wonderful cd, My favorite all-time song is talkin' baseball by Terry Cashman. I allso like "Whos on first", "A dying Cubs..." and many more.On a 1-10 scale, I rank this cd a 15!

I Don't Know! Third Base!!!
This is (obviously) a compilation of baseball related songs, sketches and what have you. The songs here cover a wide variety of styles, including bluegrass, big band, rhythm & blues, pop, jazz, novelty, country, rock, soul, a capella, folk, gospel and rap. Not all of the songs are good, but a majority of them are. Of course, one of the highlights is Abbott & Costello's classic routine "Who's On First". The classic poem "Casey at the Bat" is here, but the recitation by DeWolf Hopper is a bit too "hammy" for my taste. Not everything here will appeal to everyone, but like I said, there is more good than bad. Recommended for baseball fans.

B"s GH
Fun to listen to, is it available in CD media.....jb

Most of what you want on a Baseball album is on this one
the younger generation. Except for "We Are the Champions," which is covered by the Big Blue Wrecking Crew, you will not hear any songs likely to be played during a time out at a NBA basketball game. So this is an album for you and your dad, not you and your kid, but hopefully your kid will learn to appreciate the collection of baseball songs on this album. For your dad there are the classic baseball songs "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio," "Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)," "Van Lingle Mungo," "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?" For you there is Terry Cashman's folksy "Willie, Mickey & The Duke (Talkin' Baseball)" and Bruce Springsteen's rockin' "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." There are also a few choice pieces of baseball history with "Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech" and "Bobby Thompson's Shot Heard 'Round the World." But what makes this collection earn five stars is that it also provides both a 1945 version of Abbott & Costello's famous "Who's On First?" routine and DeWolf Hopper's recitation of "Casey at the Bat." Yes, there are some minor efforts here (does history really need to preserve Tommy Larsoda's bleeping opinion on Dave Kingman?). On the flip side, who knew Mickey Mantle actually cut a record (sort of) and how can you not love "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" by Steve Goodman. Besides, you have to like a baseball collection that gives you Count Basie and Danny Kaye. The main thing is that of the nine bits of baseball audio that need to be on any baseball collection are all here: the exception, "Centerfield" (although a case could also be made for the title theme from "The Natural"). For the record those nine would be tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 21 and 22. ... Read more