These guys used to be college rock
favorites, with smart, snappy, silly independent classics like "Jesus Was Way
Cool," "Take Stuff From Work," and "I Am A Sensitive Artist" entertaining
intellectual youth from Harvard to Princeton, and every two-bit dive in
between. Then, of course, they signed to a major label, tried to become a
more serious hard rock band, and were quickly forgotten in favor of more
reliably ironic funnymen like Ween, Zip Code Rapists, Sun City Girls, and
"Weird Al" Yankovic. Okay, not really "Weird Al" Yankovic. Can't a fellow
dream, though? Is that so wrong? So King Missile used to be a pretty great
acoustic singalong band, back when they were called King Missile (Dog Fly
Religion), but they became a bit shaky after a couple of key
members were replaced in the early '90s. You'd still get the occasional
clever lyric from anti-poet John S. Hall, and some of the metallic stuff was
memorable, but not enough. Not enough. Oh well. But wait right there! Then they came back with
a "III" after their name with their most idiosyncratic sound yet! You must hear it now! All of you!
Fluting On The Hump EP - Shimmy-Disc
1987.
![Rating = 8](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/eight.jpg)
John, Alex, Rebecca, and Dogbowl - the earliest
incarnation of King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) teamed up with New York
producer and Shimmy-Disc label owner Kramer to put together this eleven-song
EP/LP thing that is full of overly-reverbed acoustic anthems so innocuous as
to be nearly Velvet Undergound-esque except, of course, for the plethora of
silly lyrics that start to crop up a couple of tracks into side one. It
starts kinda weak, with the dumb dark beat poetry of "Lou" and "At Dave's,"
but once they allow the mood to become more playful, the tunes become not just
catchy, but essential listening, goshcrapit. Ten years after the fact, "Take
Stuff From Work," "Sensitive Artist," "Wuss," and "Dick" still make
college kids chuckle and pass the bong. They're not deep or eloquent or
ironic; they're just funny! John S. Hall has an incredible gift for
making the crass and offensive seem wide-eyed and innocent; this partly comes
from having such a wonderfully likable speaking voice, but it also has
something to do with a childlike (though mature) writing style which he,
unfortunately, exercises only at the band's finest moments - when he tries to
be dark and realistic like Steve Albini, the songs are uncomfortable and no
friggin' fun at all.
This is a dang hippyish record, aside from the first two
songs. Musically, there's all these bongos, accordions, mouth harps and
crap, augmented by nothin' but the natural planky tune of an ol' acoustic
axepiece. Good enough. When not hilarious, it's at least catchy (aside from
the first two tracks, which are, again, a total drag). It's a pretty short
record, though - only like twenty-five minutes - so take that into account
before you whip out the bread and make yourself a sandwich.
- Reader Comments
- amcquill@home.com (Andrew McQuillan)
At Dave's is an excellent song. The good thing about this record is
that it doesn't feel long. The only ones I don't care for are Heavy
Holy Man (it's not the same without John) and the title track, and even
those are okay. I like the jazzy overtones in Wuss and intro in Take
Stuff From Work, but the best part of that one is the part where the
music just stops and John starts launching into his lyrics before the
drums kick back stronger. Should of put more saxophone on Mystical
Shit.
- danner1515@yahoo.com (Dan Watkins)
A fun enough little EP, which is actually a nice addition to the Mystical Shit CD, but I'll take the second band line-up's stuff over this any day of the week. "Wuss" and "Sensitive Artist" are the obvious highlights here, but the rest is almost as enjoyable. Basically, this stuff is fun, but I like the more professional sound of next lineup.
- Speck1106@cs.com
I like this period of king Misslie the best. unassuming though shitily recorded. I just found this and mystical shit together on one disc used and scarfed it! This is important stuff. I take the good with the bad and John S. Hall is an okay guy and this shit is funny as shit and i'm gonna go take a shit but 1st all i'm sayin is King Missile is (like taking a shit) one of life's unexpected and underrated pleasures. Good shit. Funny shit. one shit two shit red shit,. blue shit.
Add your thoughts?
* They - Shimmy-Disc 1988. *
![Rating = 10](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/ten.jpg)
The epic. Twenty tracks of three-chord acoustic
folk/pop dreaminess with John's stuffed-nose half-singing plopped like a
reverbed terd right on top. I guess the key to enjoying this one is leaving
all concepts of "musical development" at the door; this is rudimentary stuff -
probably every single one of these melodies has been played before - but it's
still more infectious and happiness-inducing than anything Bush will ever
dream up, and that includes trading arms for hostages. The humor here is GOOD
humor, not ha-ha humor. Lots of good vibes, even when John's singing
about digging into his brains or plunging a pen into his veins or a bunny rabbit
killing people on the subway. He just sounds so cute!!!!
Personally, only one or two tracks make me laugh aloud (the hippie anthem "Mr.
Johnson," though it may have been considered a serious song in 1968, is a dang
hoot right here in 1988 where we are living right now), but that's not the
issue. I'd still read Mad Magazine if it were as catchy as this record!
Mellow out, leave your bitter sarcasm and self-loathing at the door, and you
should enjoy the America out of the second and final King Missile (Dog Fly
Religion) record ever released. And sure, a few of 'em blow, but with TWENTY
to choose from, how can you bitch? How??? How???? And "World War III Is A
Giant Ice Cream Cone" can spend the rest of its life in my head as long as it brings
that squirty guy from Brain Damage.
- Reader Comments
- steve.robey@mindspring.com
I'm so glad there's someone else who loves this album! I think it's
their best too, though 10/10 is probably pushing it. After hearing
this and exploring as many Dogbowl solo albums as I could find, the
reason this album works so well is not the funny lyrics - it's
Dogbowl's tuneful stuff behind them. He's to this band what Johnny
Marr was to the Smiths (with Hall playing the unfortunate role of
Morrissey). And really, any album that ends with a song called "Double
Fucked By 2 Black Studs" has got to be great.
Add your thoughts?
Mystical Shit - Shimmy-Disc
1990.
![Rating = 7](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/seven.jpg)
Half of the original band (or more!) had left by this
point, taking with them that charming (Dog Fly Religion) feel-good sound that
had defined the band up to this point in its career. And thus beginneth the
reign of the "electrified" King Missile, a group of slick players who tossed
off way too many crappy funk metal melodies to be considered innovative,
regardless of Hall's increasingly ironic lyrics in tracks like "Rock-N-Roll
Will Never Die" and "No Point." It still works when the band is playing
decent pop and John is using his innocent guise (as in "Jesus Was Way Cool,"
"The Sandbox," and "Cheesecake Truck" - easily the finest songs on here, aside
from the Buzzcocks cover), but too often, they try to be dark, funky, and
professional, usually resulting in what we in the business call "a lousy
song." Somehow it kinda works on the title track and "Open," which are
foreboding, but in a cool hypnotic Led Zeppelin sort of way. My main concern
is that some of John's lyrics on here are miserably uninspired -
aforementioned "No Point," for example, takes a tired obvious philosophy and
does not a thing to advance it, and worthless garb like "The Neither World"
and "Frightened And Freezing" wouldn't have been fathomable on a record like
They. Oh well. At least he still has a likable voice, and is even
able to make a story of a sex-obsessed couple end up sounding like a generic
love song ("They had made an agreement that when one of them died, the other
would continue to live with and make love to the corpse. As luck would have
it, they were both killed in a freak accident and died at the exact same
moment - holding hands." Hate to ruin the song for you, but it's not that
great anyway.).
In short, the problem with this first record featuring the
brand-new Dogbowl-free lineup is that the band is one of those generic boogie
rock bands instead of a generic acoustic folk band, so the pot-smoking charm
has been replaced by a dumb sort of weakbutt headbanging mentality that just
doesn't fit John's words or delivery at all, which is to say I mean that his
words fit with happy pop music and I don't wanna hear him try to come up with
darker lyrics just so they'll fit the music better, I mean, I hope that makes
sense, you know, in short, the songs for the most part just aren't very catchy
or interesting. Popular album, though!
- Reader Comments
- amcquill@home.com (Andrew McQuillan)
This album truly is 'the Mystical Shit' and the accompannying 'Fluting
on the Hump' is excellent too.
- danner1515@yahoo.com (Dan Watkins)
I bought this album on a whim when I saw it sitting facing out on a rack at Coconuts. Since it was $18.99, I was a little iffy about getting it, but I bought it any way. After all, when would I ever come across a King Missile album again in Alabama? I'm glad I bought it. I like it quite a bit. I haven't heard They yet (it's in the mail), so my opinion could change when I hear that one, but I actually really like the sound of the electric band here. I like a lot of the songs you don't seem to care for. "Gary And Melissa" has a really weird vibe to it that I like, and "No Point" is actually one of my favorite songs on the album. The high points you mentioned are really good too though. I'd give it an 8.
Add your thoughts?
The Way To Salvation - Atlantic
1991.
![Rating = 8](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/eight.jpg)
A much more upbeat record than Shit, this major
label debut brags some of John's finest guilt-free boy stories ever, including
"The Story Of Willy," "The Indians," "My Heart Is A Flower," "Sex With You,"
and "Scotland," most of which feature that positive protagonist I've grown to
love so. Let me illustrate this better - "The Story Of Willy" is about the
last day of human existence on the planet Earth. At one point in the song,
Willy discovers that his friend Bob, in utter despair, has shot himself in the
head. Willy, on the other hand, decides that since this is his last day on
Earth, he's going to enjoy himself! And here's the kicker - where a Steve
Albini or Jesus Lizard hero would predictably begin to plan a violent sexual
assault on Bob's wife, Willy happily spouts out, "Maybe when Bob's wife comes
home, I'll take her out dancing! Yeah, that's it!!! Dancing!!! I'm gonna go
home and get changed!!!"
Of course, he ends up getting flattened by a
steamroller, but that's hardly the issue. The point is that, as cruel
as life can be, people don't need to make things worse by themselves
becoming cruel. Any pain is too much pain. Just listen to "The Sandbox" from
Mystical Shit; I now know that John was making an environmental statement,
but I've always felt that it was an even more general
statement about how simple and mean it is to destroy somebody else's bliss -
the speaker is a little boy who discovers that somebody has taken a dooky in
his sandbox. Yes, it's gross and yes, it's disgusting, but that's not all it
is. It successfully turns the child against all society everywhere. "I'm
never coming back to the sandbox," he screams at the end, "and I hate
everybody!" Or something like that. And sure, it's funny, but it's sad, too,
if you ever think about these things. Too much sorrow in this land, by golly.
Which is why we need songs like "The Boy Who Ate Lasagna And Could Jump Over A
Church"!!!!!
Some of these songs are still a blandity, but on the whole
they're a heck of a lot more singalongable than the last batch, which is
probably the best you can expect from a joke metal band. Too much beat
poetry, though! "It's trite, contrived, and appallingly boring," indeed, Mr.
Hall, if I may call you Mr. Hall.
Add your thoughts?
Happy Hour - Atlantic 1992.
![Rating = 8](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/eight.jpg)
The music on this one is really good - like the last
one, it's hankfull of catchy moody pop tunes that, as simple as they are,
stick in your head a heck of a lot longer
than any word Jon Sencio has uttered since birth. Oh sure, they're not
all fantastaler; a few attempts at artiness (like "Ed") just drag on
and on and on, and there's some of the old rotten stinkfunk boppin' around
too. However, none of that matters a whit 'cuz this is the record with
"Detachable Penis!" Stupid, obvious, and unfunny, the song became an instant
MTV classic, and good for it! Those are three infectious echoed minor chords,
I gots to tell ye. The only problem with this record? Weak lyrics from start
to finish. John appears to have lost all sense of irony and lomped right on
over into irritatingly blatantville, with godawful sentences like "I want to
be different - just like everybody else. I want to be like all the different
people!" and "And so the very evil children took the dog out to play in the
park. Then they took him home and refused to set him on fire." That said,
the moronic obscenity "Martin Scorcese" is funnier than all heck (at least,
the first time you hear it) and the serious ones are just dull enough to be
entirely inconsequential. Which leaves us to ponder the impressively strong
sense of melody displayed by the players on this one; they just keep coming up
with catchy fluff and topnotch groovers from rising action to denouement!
It's a pity that Hall's talent took a field day in '92, but close your
word-huntin' ear, mellow out to the instrumental groovedivesoapdish, and, like
at least one person I know, you might just find yourself throwing this one on
once every couple of weeks.
You know, the hilarious thing is that I'm now reading this review in 2004 (I wrote it
in '97), and I have NO CLUE who Jon Sencio is!
- Reader Comments
- DougS@aol.com
I bought this album to see if King Missile was a one trick pony with
"Detachable Penis". Sure enough, it was. For some reason I figured that this
would be a punky sort of record. Now I don't know what I was thinking. Oh
well. "Penis" is still one cool tune in a DEVO-ish sort of way and keeps me
from unloading the CD. And I think the lyrics are funny regardless of what
the LUMP-ish one says....
Overall King Missile got lucky with "Penis". A better band that a year later
would put out a better album in the "Twilight Zone" territory that King
Missile played around in was Sublime. "Date Rape" wasn't a one trick pony. And
these guys had better range (hardcore punk and reggae/ska) than Missile could
ever hope to have. In summation, if you can find a compilation party album
that has "Penis" on it, go buy it. Otherwise go buy a Sublime album....
- WertyPlok@aol.com
i liked the happy hour cd........ especially the lyrics about the very evil
children and being different like everybody else...... thats all i have to
say............. (though i agree detachable penis wasn't as great as evryone
seemed to think) everything else was great! different...... but great!
- amcquill@home.com (Andrew McQuillan)
Good to see a page where someone reviews King Missile. Unfortunately,
this is the only album I have since their shit is hard to find. This
album is so great. Some songs work better than others but it rules. A
masterpiece.
- danner1515@yahoo.com (Dan Watkins)
Funny. For a few weeks Kazaa had me believing that the Butthole Surfers did "Detachable Penis." Folks, if you're going to rip a song to an mp3, do the world a favor and credit the right band. Anyway, as catchy as "Detachable Penis" is, there are plenty of other great songs on this one. "Why Are We Trapped," "VulvaVoid," and the surprisingly pretty "Anywhere" are just as enjoyable in my opinion. I agree that the lyrics here are a little sub-par--I personally don't really like "Martin Scorsese." I heard that was their follow-up single to "Detachable Penis." How??? Were they TRYING to go down in history as a dirty novelty act? Anyway, I think things get a little dull near the end, but hey, this album is a lot more consistent than most people would probably have you believe. I give this one an 8.
Add your thoughts?
King Missile - Atlantic 1994.
![Rating = 6](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/six.jpg)
Sigh. I guess they're trying to play jazzy metal or
something. It's okay, but not nearly memorable enough to make you want to
hear it twice. And the pop songs suck!!!! "Open Up" sounds like Blind Melon,
"What If" has a disgustingly Presidents Of The United States Of America feel
to it, and aaaj, rhkaot to hell with it. The words aren't as rank as they
were on the last one, but they ain't good, either (except maybe "The
Dishwasher," which is pretty great though repetitive and overlong), and
without earthcracking tuners to back up his little blurbs, there's crap to
latch onto. And who the poop wants to latch onto crap? What do they want from me? False praise? I am not
he who lavishes false praise!
- Reader Comments
- herbiethehubcap@earthlink.net
I don't know, I've always felt this to be their best record. I wouldn't say
they are trying to be metal, Dave had already had experiences with that in
early Bongwater, but the music in the first half of the record isn't up to
par. The real record doesn't really start until "Delores" with probably has
some really deep meaning that I don't feel like trying to figure out. See,
that's the thing about John. He'll write something, say "Socks," and you'll
think, hmm, this must be about obsessive-compulsive" or something to
that effect. Then you'll hear some psychology student on the radio go into
detail, about the 'descent into madness' or whatever. You just have to
realize, in later King Missile, whatever you interpret the song as, it's
probably one level deeper. Socks is one of the perfect King Missile II
songs (the other being "Ed") Because it captures all the band members at
their best. That and "Dishwasher." Dave isn't the kind of guitarist to
carry a song with three rotating chords, like Dogbowl was, because we all
know that one loses interest in a song without a good melody. That's why
Dog Fly Religion was so generic. But pairing these two is perfect, because
it has a good melody to carry John's 'monolouges.' See? SEE? They're like
symbionts, or something. Whatever. See this is that deeper meaning stuff
I'm talking about. I might add that Roger is a spectacular drummer as well.
Proving that the three other members can work together very well, we have
the best song on the record, "King David's Dirge." That doesn't sound very
pseudo-metal anymore, does it? "Happy Note" seems kinda symbolic to me,
like they knew Atlantic was gonna drop them. Times up. That'll be 100
bucks.
- rottingcarrot@hotmail.com (Brion Briggsh)
I like this album. it takes a bit of getting used to and there are some
boring tracks but there are some nice melodies in some of the songs. Songs
like Love is.... "love is beautiful like forest of pine and wonder/ love
is not ugly like invisible brain control or rats in a puddle of vomit"
and the commercial are really hillarious too. I'd give the album a 7/10
Add your thoughts?
Failure - 1998.
![Rating = 8](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/eight.jpg)
King Missile III! A new line-up! No more metal or
seriousness! The new band plays avante-jazz/rnb/grove/snazz/bluesy/noise/crankle/floop
and John recites hilarious little monologues about sex and cute animated
creatures. Hardy! Finally John has found the spiritual follow-up to Fluting
On The Hump.
It's not acoustic folk, mind you, but it IS the artsiest and quite possibly
funniest King Missile record of all time. It gets a little slow near the end,
but for the most part, these 14 tracks are fucking great. A high 8! Probably
my favorite King Missile record aside from They. But be careful --
this isn't pop music. It's very loose, almost improvisational organ-violin-and-acoustic-bass
driven music with John Hall telling silly stories over it. But isn't that
what the appeal of King Missile has always been? Who needs that pseudo-metal
crap, eh????
- Reader Comments
- WertyPlok@aol.com
i like psuedo metal crap....... *sigh*
Add your
thoughts?
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life - Instinct/Knitting Factory 2003.
![Rating = 8](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/eight.jpg)
Still King Missile III, but the quintet has been chopped down to a trio. The disc doesn't sound as ethnic as the last one, with the music rotating between piano riffs of various moods, synth/bass/drum groovedowns (of both the "rock" and the "industrial" variety) and nonexistent anythings. Which I guess you'd call "spoken word," except backed by crowd noise (The five-part "Pain Series"), a smashing drum solo ("The President") or creepy wind and traffic noises ("Jim"). However your ears perceive the dreams of us all, you will probably wind up focusing more on the words. The words of Mr. John S. Hall, music lawyer. John is getting no less clever -- just much more PROFANE! The five-part "Pain" series, for example (split into: "Hot Coffee," "Hammer Thumb," "Paper Cut," "Cold Pool" and "Stomach Cramps") features 32 variations of the world fuck, 6 goddamns, 4 shits, a bastard, a son of a bitch and, somehow, TWO piss christs. "Damned If I Know" features 3 fucks, 3 shits, an ass, an asshole and a scumbag. "The Miracle Of Childbirth" features 15 fucks, 1 hard-on, 3 asses, 3 cunts, 2 pussies, 2 dicks, 1 wet and loose, 1 doggy style, 1 bitch, 1 clit, 1 slit, 1 tit and 1 shit. And of course, the coup-de-ville "The President" features, at last count, SIXTY-ONE fucks, TWENTY-ONE scumbags, TWENTY shits, 3 assholes, 1 ass, 1 cum, 1 hard-on, 1 prick, 1 dick and one wish for assassination. The other songs are child-friendly.I'm not going to put forth any theories like "he's given up on radioplay and no longer cares about watching his language" or "he's so angry at Bush that he can't help his profanity," but I asked the guy and he said it's just profane because all of these songs ended up on the same CD. He finds it entertaining to break taboos, and no one can deny the taboo nature of both the unspoken sexy, grotesque side of childbirth and the media's sheeplike acceptance of whatever our moron president wants to do (as exemplified by the recent NYC tabloid cover headline reading "AXIS OF WEASELS: FRANCE AND GERMANY WIMP OUT ON IRAQ"). Why are we so deadset on going against Iraq? I don't know. Nobody knows! Is it for oil? Is it so we can finally get rid of Nutjob Saddam once and for all? That's probably a large part of it. Even if he doesn't pose a threat to us at this time, he HAS been a powerhungry nogoodguy for quite some time. Is it so we can establish a government more friendly to the U.S.? Probably, yes. But one thing's for sure: If Bush is telling the truth when he says, "We KNOW he has chemical weapons," that can only be because his father came up to him one day and said, "Say son, I don't mean to worry you, but back when Reagan was in office, we shipped a bunch of chemical weapons over to Iraq to help in the fight against Iran." Whatever it is Bush is so eager to do, he hasn't been honest about it, nor have any of his people. I'm not saying it's an easy job to be President - especially when the entire country is looking to you to get revenge for 9/11/01. But surely we could get a more honest and intelligent team in there than we have right now. I mean, look at this Rumsfeld dipshit -- is the man even CAPABLE of opening his mouth without saying something stupid?! But enough from me, a guy who gets all his news from Yahoo!.
As for the new King Missile III CD -- if you like metaphors, cussing and really clever humor that may or may not lampoon the emotionless cruelty of meat-eaters, the despicable nature of God Almighty and the fine line between fashion leaders and fashion disasters, you do very much need to consider purchasing it. It's really good!
- Reader Comments
- danner1515@yahoo.com (Dan Watkins)
Ehhh... I don't know about this one. Sure, it's kind of amusing in its unrestrained vulgarity, but this stuff doesn't really make me laugh. Okay, "The President" is so profane that it's actually downright impressive, and the "Pain Series" tracks are funny the first could of times. However, stuff like "JLH" and "The Miracle Of Birth" don't really strike me as funny, rather they just seem awkward. This CD really just confuses me. Has John S. Hall just decided to completely do comedy now? I know his lyrics have always been funny, but this stuff sounds like a flat-out comedy album. Oh well. I won't give this one a rating since I've only heard it a few times, and I'm still really not sure what I think of it. It doesn't really sound like the kind of album that has a whole lot of re-play value though.
- steve.robey@mindspring.com
Funny anecdote about this one. See, my wife is pretty open-minded. But she's also pretty pregnant. And no matter how open minded you are, there's a little voice inside us all that is just PETRIFIED that our children might see or hear something profane, offensive and horrible, and might thereby "go down the wrong road" to a life of prostitution, drug abuse, and crime. And though I don't believe that such results can come from hearing a record album, I've still decided to take extra pains to make sure our unborn daughter never gets her hands on this CD.
My wife and dog stayed in the car while I ran into the grocery store to pick up a few items this past weekend. Looking for something to do, she looked through the CDs I had in the car, and thought, "Hey, King Missile! I kinda like them and they're pretty funny. Let's read some lyrics!" I wish I could have prepared her. But taken out of context, stuff like "The President" and "The Miracle of Childbirth" just should not be consumed by anyone not ready for it. Even I have to agree that tracks like these aren't even really funny, they're just heavy-handed profanity - and John Hall is certainly capable of better (take "Martin Scorsese" for example). Sad to say, my wife no longer likes King Missile any more (how come my copy of "They", also in the car at the time, didn't have a lyric sheet? Those songs are much more clever - and cleaner!)... but there are still some pretty good tracks on this CD.
"My Father" raises a dry smile whenever I hear it, and the reading of the "play" in the middle is hilarious. "Ennui" shows John taking a bemused look at the jaded state of his own sense of humor, and "Damned if I Know" is just stupid enough to still be funny. Overall though, this one's pretty much a disappointment. Although musically, I prefer KM III to the prior edition with Chris Xefos and Dave Rick. But damn I miss DOGBOWL! Buy his solo albums - they're wonderful!
Add your
thoughts?
Royal Lunch - Important 2004
![Rating = 7](/web/20180822055659im_/http://markprindle.com/seven.jpg)
Didn't I just review this album? The one with the strange percussive and stringed instruments, violins and ridiculous amounts of grotesque obscenity? The one with the "Pain Series" tracks and anti-Bush sentiments? The one entitled The Psychopathology of Everyday Life? Oh hang on, I pulled out the wrong CD.Oh here we go. Royal Lunch is a good record, believe me. It's plenty melodic, and flows deliciously back and forth between cocktail jazz, drum/bass rock, disco, carnival waltzes, weird wonderful ethnic melodies on homemade instruments and even a traditional POP/ROCK SONG! With John SINGING!!! A few of them are made-up-on-the-spot throwaways, but only a few (out of 16); most of these compositions are actual, memorable pieces of "music."
However, the lyrics are... I mean, I love John S. Hall, we all know that. But too many of these compositions seem like half-written one-liners. I never thought I'd complain about TOO MUCH graphic language, but a lot of it seems more purposeless than it had on the previous record. Still, John IS John, so he of course comes up with a number of hilarious lines (from "The Chosen": "Well, you fucked up didn't you? You sell your soul to the devil, you get like four dollars, but if you had come when God called, you would have gotten whatever you want - a nose job, 50-inch TV set, a waterbed filled with Callista Flockhart's urine, whatever you want." From "Brains Will Explode": "You should never fuck your relatives unless they're dead. And even then you usually have to wait until after the funeral."), and it's quite difficult not to laugh at such ludicrous concepts as "Get Down With The Funky Shit" (in which the narrator IS, in fact, talking about SHIT) and "Antimatter" (an instant King Missile all-time classic that finds John daydreaming about such superheroes as Bigdickman and Ordinaryman); I think I'm just disappointed because his lyrics were almost all universally witty on the last two. But that's just comparisons to past performances. Compared to other SONGWRITERS, John is still one of the most unique and unpredictable men in the field. He goes places most writers avoid, and is never EVER content with a generic idea.
Again, Royal Lunch's music is both instrumentally and stylistically diverse, and John has never given an uninteresting vocal performance. So if you're into the KMIII sound, you gotta get it got it good!
You ever have one of those days when you just don't feel "funny"? This is definitely one of those days. Part of the problem of setting myself up as a "funny" writer is that I disappoint myself when nothing happens. At any rate, I hope the review itself was decent. I mean, I hope you can tell whether or not to buy the album. Say! Did I mention fags are gay?
There, that did it! Move over, Paul Rodriguez -- Ol' Prind is back on top of the comedy heap!
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