We have a winner! Check out the big brain on Brian Zinger (AGAIN!) who nailed this one!
Here are the four tracks:
Van Halen – “Oh Pretty Woman”
Van Halen – “Little Guitars”
Van Halen – “Secrets”
Van Halen – “Jump”
And here’s my original email to Craig explaining the answer:
“Only the real fans will get this one. I thought it was real cool yesterday when you did the “five play” with “Little Guitars (intro)”. So, here’s 4 VH songs…and when you play them, fans will realize that on the albums, all songs have INSTRUMENTAL INTROS!” 1. “Intruder” 2. “Little Guitars (intro)” 3. “Cathedral” and 4. “1984”
At the conclusion of Record Store Tales, I told the story of how I earned the nickname LeBrain. It started with a contest on the Craig Fee Show (on 107.5 Dave FM) called the 4 O’Clock 4-Play which I dominated. I also sent Craig numerous 4-Plays of my own creation.
The challenge is to figure out the common thread that ties all four songs together. The theme could be anything: lyrical, musical, background trivia, artist related…and I liked to come up with unique themes.
Play the tracks in order as a listener would, and make a guess in the comments section! Be specific.
In the late 80’s, after the robotic Priest…Live! and the false start that was Ram It Down, a lot of metal fans wrote off Judas Priest as a vital metal band.
They were a tad premature.
Perhaps it was Halford inking a few too many tattoos into his noggin, perhaps it was the long overdue departure of Dave Holland on drums, or maybe they were just pissed off. The band had spent the summer of 1990 defending themselves in the United States against accusations of murder. Not directly, but through “backwards messages” supposedly embedded on the ancient Stained Class album.* It was a show trial designed to blame bad parenting on someone else. But the band triumphed, and came back meaner and angrier than ever before.
Having written songs with a drum machine, Priest now needed a new drummer. They selected Scott Travis of Racer X, the band that also spawned Paul Gilbert among others. Travis, an American, was on board and the band bunked down in the studio with veteran producer Chris Tsangarides. What resulted from this potent mix was the best record they’d done since at least Defenders, if not far earlier. Decks had been cleared, the band meant business. Travis threw down the double bass, a thrash metal sound previously unexplored by Judas Priest. While looking forward, the album also distilled the sounds of Priest over the last 10 years. It put the turntable from 33 1/3 all the way up to 45 rpm.
This is over-the-top metal, shiny and mean. Halford’s screaming higher and harder than any time before, almost to the point of caricature, but not quite. This chrome plated beast blew away all reasonable expectations. Tipton and Downing still thought they were interesting enough guitar players to do lead break credits on every album, but it’s a touch I like. Tipton is the more experimental one and Downing the fast and reckless one. As a combo it works; the solos are interesting, adrenaline packed and suitable to the songs.
The production is loud and clear; at the time I felt this was one of the best produced metal albums I’d ever heard. The drums are so loud and clear that it hurts. Travis is doing some serious steppin’ on the double bass. To steal a phrase from Halford, this is “primo thrash metal”. More accurately, speed metal.
Almost every song is worthy. Only a few fall flat. Painkiller was more about the overall direction than individual songs, Yes, the lyrics are cartoony, but “Nightcrawler” takes it too far and is too repetitive with a spoken word section that should have been chopped. Also embarassing is “Metal Meltdown”, a speed metal blaster that tries but fails to be as dramatic as “Painkiller” itself. On the positive side are the incendiary title track (still classic today), the ballad “A Touch of Evil”, and the riff-by-riff metal of “Leather Rebel”, “Hell Patrol” and “All Guns Blazing”. You wouldn’t expect an album like Painkiller to have a lot of melody, but some of these tracks may surprise you.
Bonus tracks are the out-of-place “Living Bad Dreams” (a ballad which spoils the record) and an inferior live cut of “Leather Rebel”.
Still, quite the album!. It really gets the blood pumping, even today. I wish it came with a DVD with the insane video of the title track. Check that out if you want to have a sweat. A mighty if imperfect return.
4.5/5 stars
* The song in question, “Better By You, Better Than Me”, was pointedly re-released as a B-side on Priest’s next single, “Painkiller”.
This is one of the best boxed sets that I own. Of course, it’s not a complete collection of rarities. Such a thing does not exist, the Lizzy catalogue is so labyrinthine with EP’s, singles, and Phil’s solo projects. It takes a scholar just to keep it all straight. This set however does include a very generous slice of rarities, including one rare exclusive. It also includes pretty much every Lizzy hit and album cut you could want. Everything from my own obscure favourites (“Hollywood”, “The Sun Goes Down”) to the biggest hits (“Jailbreak”, “The Boys are Back in Town”) are on here.
The set is divided into four discs, each one reflecting a phase of Thin Lizzy. From the Eric Bell power trio years (was “power trio” even a phrase back then?) to the final Phil single “Nineteen” (famously covered by Bad 4 Good), there is no era of the band overlooked. The liner notes are also excellent, with lots of photos and text, and detailed credits.
The rarities and B-sides are pure gold. It’s also important to remember that in Lizzy’s day, non-album singles were the norm. Many of those singles are crucial tracks. “Randolph’s Tango”, with its intricate flamenco solo, is one. The storming “Little Darling” is another necessity. I love the reggae of “Half Caste”. How hard it must have been being Phil Lynott growing up. “The boy ain’t black, the boy is brown,” goes the painful lyric. “Sitamoia” (written by Brian Downey) is a ferocious tornado as only Lizzy could do. “Sugar Blues” is a live jam blast, featuring the underrated Snowy White doing what he does best: the blues.
Most of the B-sides and rare tracks have since been released on the various Thin Lizzy deluxe editions. Not necessarily in these versions though. One track you won’t find on a deluxe edition is “Song For Jimi”, originally from a magazine flexi-disc. This track features a reunited original Thin Lizzy with Eric Bell, recording in 1981!
With complete honesty, there isn’t one single track I would have changed on this set. I think of all my favourites (Lizzy, solo, and otherwise) and check to see if they’re on here. “Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed”? Check. “Massacre”? Check. “The Rocker”? Check. “King’s Call”? Check. “Fool’s Gold”? Check. “Romeo And The Lonely Girl”? Check. “Dancing In The Moonlight”? Check. In fact the only thing I can think of that’s missing is the posthumous “Dedication”, but it’s arguable that it doesn’t belong, since it has a sort of early 90’s sound and was finished by Gorham and Downey on their own.
I wish Thin Lizzy became as big a name as some of their contemporaries, such as Zeppelin, Aerosmith, or Purple. They certainly had the musical chops, they had a multitude of influences and variety of sounds (all Lizzy though), and of course they had the unequaled lyrical talents of Phil Lynott. A poet like Lynott will never come again. Let’s celebrate his life, even though it’s too late for him to celebrate with us.
NOTE: None of the information below should be taken as actual singing advice!
RECORD STORE TALES Mk II: Getting More Tale #337: Oh Say Can You Scream
In the 1980’s, screamers were king. Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Brian Johnson, Udo Dirkschneider…all of them were able to scream the high notes, sending chills up and down your spine. We all wanted to be screamers back then! None of my friends were able to croon like Coverdale, so screaming seemed like a viable option. We worked on our screaming voices with practice, practice, practice.
My buddy Bob came up with two ways to practice our scream techniques:
At home: Go to your bedroom and close the door. Put on AC/DC’s Who Made Who cassette, and grab a pillow. Then, scream along with Johnson directly IN to your pillow. Nobody should be able to hear you! The pillow should muffle your wailing Johnson imitation. You can belt it at top lung power without disturbing mom and dad’s TV shows. Just remember to lift your head from the pillow for breathing! (That part is really important.)
If out at dusk: Go to your local park. Make sure the coast is clear. Then, just sing and let it out! Bob and I did this one frequently, walking through our local Stanley Park. We serenaded the neighbors with a selection of AC/DC and Iron Maiden.
There were a couple specific Maiden songs that Bob and I really enjoyed screaming along to. One was a classic from Powerslave: “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Such an excellent, challenging choice. We would focus on the line, “Then down in falls comes the raaaaaaaaaaain!” We’d scream that section over and over again until we were satisfied that we had it right.
After a few years, I became quite good at hitting the high notes. I moved on from my screaming by the time I was in University, and focused on the Bee Gees. I knew that screaming Maiden tunes wasn’t a good way to attract female attention. Singing “Stayin’ Alive” note for note though? That may have had potential! (Note: it didn’t.)
Although I can no longer perform the song as I used to, I am proud to say that I used to be able to hit every note in “Stayin’ Alive”. Something to be proud of at Karaoke.
You don’t have to like Sebastian Bach (the person) to like Angel Down. He may be a bit of a blow-hard, but damn, he made another great album. By my counting this is his third legitimately great album (Slave to the Grind and Subhuman Race being the other two.)
Baz’s voice is still powerful, and he still has most of his range. In fact, after the disappointing Bring ‘Em Bach Alive I thought it was all over for the voice. Not so! Angel Down proves it. Bach’s still got the goods. He’s got more character in his voice than he did when he was 19 or 20. More grit. But his lungs are as powerful as ever, absolutely mind-bogglingly so.
This was (by far) the heaviest album that Baz had made to date. This is way heavier than anything Skid Row has done with or without him. Bach’s working with great people on this, including Roy Z and members of the old Halford band. It doesn’t get much more metal than this. It’s heavier than most Priest albums, and the songs are all strong. They won’t sink into your skull on first listen, or even the third. It’s a challenging listen, the pummeling of guitars and drums are constant and brutal. Having said that, eventually the melodies, riffs, and Bach’s vocals will worm their way into your brain like a virus.
Highlights for this listener included:
“(Love Is) A Bitchslap”, which you may have heard in preview form on season 7 of Trailer Park Boys. This smoker is a duet with Baz’s buddy W. Axl Rose! You can literally smell the rubber burning.
“Back In The Saddle”, the powerful Aero-cover, and another duet with the reclusive Axl Rose. To hear Axl and Baz singing together again is awesome; two rock gods shattering the glass and gargling with it after.
“You Don’t Understand” with its patented Roy Z guitar riff (which really is just a patented Maiden riff).
“Falling Into You”, a Skid-Row-esque ballad along the lines of “Wasted Time” with some gorgeous strings (synth?) and guitar harmonies. Another standout ballad is “By Your Side”, along similar lines.
The brutally heavy “American Metalhead”. Ignore the fact that Baz lived most his childhood in Canada and considers himself Canadian. I can appreciate that singing “Canadian Metalhead” wouldn’t have the same impact to his core (American) record buyers. Either way, it’s a brutal assault of the ears, as Baz screams his way out of your headphones.
“Angel Down”, the title track, which starts atmospheric like a Sabbath opener before hitting that pummeling Pantera riff; Baz ripping the vocal cords again.
14 songs, and that’s just a handful of favourites listed above. There are lots of great moments on this CD. I can’t praise it enough, songwriting and performance wise. It really surprised me. I didn’t expect something this solid. Top it off with another of his dad’s paintings on the cover, and this was the comeback album that fans were hoping for but never expecting.
“My smile is stuck; I cannot go back t’yer frownland.” – Don Van Vliet
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND – Trout Mask Replica(1969 Reprise)
Produced by Frank Zappa, written by Don Van Vliet.
I’m no professional musician — not even close. I can’t speak that language, so I can’t explain to you why Trout Mask Replica is pure genius. I can tell you that it is not for everybody. Frank Zappa once said, regarding the public’s attitude towards popular music: “Give me something that sounds exactly like something that I already like.” With that sarcastic comment, Zappa hit the nail on the head. Most listeners want music in standard (4/4) time, with familiar tones, and based on familiar scales. If you fall into that majority, do not buy Trout Mask Replica.
I’ll give you an example of the weirdness within, right out of the liner notes. “Captain Beefheart plays tenor and soprano saxophone simultaneously on ‘Ant Man Bee’.” [My emphasis]
Those who have studied music, particularly free improvisation, find Trout Mask Replica to be utterly brilliant. It is an ugly duckling of an album, something that seems stark and unforgiving on first listen, but revealing more depth and beauty the more you hear it. There is much to be enjoyed here. The drumming (by Drumbo aka John French) shatters preconceived notions about tempo and timekeeping in a rock/blues context. Bass clarinet is present, a rare instrument these days to be sure, and not an easy instrument to appreciate. The guitar and horns are harsh and difficult for the average listener to digest coming across as nothing more than a cacophony. Often, it sounds as if all six musicians are playing different songs at the same time, and that is not too far off the mark. Yet, these conflicting parts mesh and intersect at key moments, creating an overall effect of, “It sounds wrong, but right.” With repeated listens, it begins to sound more right than wrong. Bits and pieces gradually coalesce, and suddenly it clicks. There are hooks here, catchy guitar parts that reveal themselves slowly. The howling moans of Don Van Vliet are always enticing. I love his “old man” voice on the scratchy “The Dust Blows Forwards ‘N the Dust Blows Back”.
The music is playful (“Ella Garu” for example). Captain Beefheart plays homage to Americana on “Moonlight on Vermont”. “Pachuco Cadaver”, the most immediate piece here, is catchy and pop-like in its structure. Yet Trout Mask Replica‘s prime influence in the blues, both at its most ancient and futuristic simultaneously. If that’s even possible, then Beefheart did it right here. Then again, “Hair Pie: Bake 2” is just pure jazz.
If you gave it a shot and you didn’t like Trout Mask Replica, then that is a question of personal taste and you are not wrong. However, nobody can say that this is “not music”, or that this is the work of “amateurs”. It takes years for musicians to be able to compose and play music of this stature. If you don’t appreciate it, that’s fine. AC/DC are still making records. A lot of people can’t appreciate Edgard Varese or Ligeti either. Yet their music continues to live on years after their deaths. So will it be for Don Van Vliet & his Magic Band.
After repeated spins, I believe that even the most jaded of listeners can find something to enjoy if they try. Whether it be Van Vliet’s gutteral blues howling or the loud and aggressive slide guitar, there is much to be loved on Trout Mask Replica. If by chance you are a Beefheart fan already, or are slowly becoming one, there are some interesting companion pieces to be had: The one I want is Grow Fins: Rarities 1965-1982. It’s a 5-CD box set containing two entire discs of Trout Mask outtakes and sessions.
Buy this if you like experimental Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Mike Patton, the works of Edgard Varese, early (Easy Action and Pretties For You) Alice Cooper, or free improv.
RECORD STORE TALES Mk II: Getting More Tale #336: Garage Sales
I used to love garage sales and yard sales as a kid; both going to them and having them. As a buyer, you never know what cool things you will find at a garage sale, from books to gadgets to movies. As a seller, it’s a quick way to de-clutter your house and liquidate junk that’s sitting around. In our last few garage sales, I made several hundred dollars and cleaned out a ton of space.
It’s a lot of work, packing up the stuff and getting it organized, priced and displayed. Making and putting up the signs. Creating online ads. Opening for business. But you’re not here to read about the tedious aspects. You’re here for the stories.
Some of the most irritating people on this Earth are the early-morning hard-core garage salers. They scour the newspaper ads each week and want to be first to arrive. Since I live in a condo, the last bunch of garage sales we’ve held were at my parents’ house. I would drive over early on the Saturday morning to open up for business. I’d arrive around 6 or 6:30, in order to open up at 7, our advertised time.
I remember driving over on that lovely summer morning, still dark outside, and seeing a dude sitting in his car on the side of the street. “He can’t be here for the sale,” I said to myself. “I advertised that it starts at 7:00.” But I had underestimated the tenacity of serious hard core garage salers. I parked, opened the garage door, and began moving things out onto the driveway.
Next thing you know, I notice a guy in the dark garage behind me!
“Where are your Star Wars things?” he asked.
I said, “I’m not even close to being ready. They’re here in boxes somewhere but I have to dig everything out.”
“Do you have the vintage ones from the 70’s?”
I laughed. “No. I would never sell that stuff at a garage sale!”
I laughed just like this.
Without a word the guy left and drove off to the next sale. Over the next 30 minutes, while I was setting up, cars would drive by, slow down to look at what I had, and drive off. If they didn’t see what they were looking for (presumably big items like bikes and appliances) they kept going.
Typically at a garage sale, you don’t make any money for the first hour. The first hour is only serious salers who are looking for those specific items. They ask what you have and leave. After that things begin to pick up. Most people are pretty nice. As the day goes on, friends and neighbors drop by, but it’s the cheapskates that drive me nuts.
A garage sale is a place where you can buy things dirt-cheap, but even so, I have my limits. The guy that pissed me off the most at the last one was a douchebag in a big black pickup truck. (Why do the douchebags always seem to drive big black pickup trucks?) I had about a dozen DVDs and a couple Blu-rays out for sale. The prices on them were pretty reasonable: I had the Blu out for $4 and none of the DVDs were over $3. And that’s just the stickered prices, I was always willing to make deals with people who bought more than one. Within reason.
The pickup truck douchebag grabbed all my movies and said simply to me, “50 cents each?”
I said, “No, I can’t go that low. If you take them all you can have ‘em for $2 each.”
He laughed, “$2 each? Are you nuts?” Laughed again. “You’re not going to get $2 each for these.”
“I already have,” I said. “I’ve sold a few already.”
He chuckled again and said, “You’re not going to sell these for $2 each. 50 cents and I’ll take them all.”
“No thanks,” I responded. “I’d rather sell them separately at full price.”
He began walking away. “Good luck buddy, you’re not going to sell any of those movies.”
Again I laughed. “I already have!”
Then he said to me, “You know, that place [name deleted] will only give you 50 cents each for movies.”
The funny thing is the place he mentioned was the Record Store in which I used to work! And they were not giving 50 cents each for movies at the time. I had worked there long enough, and sold enough stuff since, that I knew he was full of shit.
I told him who I was, and called bullshit. He drove off.
I admit I was pretty steamed up. But the guy was a total dillhole. Just the kind of garage saler that everybody hates. Like I would have given him the movies with that kind of attitude!
An hour or two later, he drove back!
“Hey buddy!” he shouted from the window of his truck. “How much for your movies?”
“Same as before,” I responded. “$2 each.”
He said something rude and drove off. I responded with something rude and was promptly scolded by my mother!
“He was a dickweed, mom,” I reasoned. He then drove to my sister’s place, who had a garage sale going at the same time, and bought one of her movies for $2 without a single complaint!
I sold all but three of my movies at that sale and raked in a few hundred bucks. I was happy and I just gave the remaining movies away to friends. Although I may still have my copy of Reefer Madness that nobody wants.
After the garage sale, my parents went on vacation for a week. While they were away, one of the items we sold at the garage sale turned up sitting on my parents’ front porch, with a note attached.
Somebody had bought a VCR at the garage sale, and a few movies to go with it. Everything worked. The VCR was missing its power cable, but that was all. I have lots of spare power cables around the house, and they’re easy enough to find, so I figured that was not an issue.
Well, some dumb lady “returned” the VCR ($5) and left it, with the movies, on my parents’ porch saying she wanted her money back because it “didn’t work”.
You sure can’t fix stupid.
Fortunately when my folks returned from vacation they settled the VCR issue. The lady came back; she was from the neighborhood, and my parents gave her the money back without incident.
Still, I wondered to myself, “Who the hell tries to return something they bought at a garage sale?” Weird.
That was the last sale we had. Though I am sure we will have more, they certainly are not as much fun as they were when I was a kid!
I am a Kiss fan, and I am also a Peter Criss fan. I like his first bunch of post-Kiss solo albums, Out of Control and Let Me Rock You just fine. They are not perfect but they have some good songs and are enjoyable, if dated, slices of the era. I think most fans would grudgingly admit that Let Me Rock You isn’t bad.
Cat #1 (terrible title!) was supposed to be Peter’s comeback, after a decade of working with bands that went nowhere such as Balls Of Fire and The Keep (with Mark St. John). He later assembled the Criss band, which included Mike Stone (who would later end up in Queensryche). Cat #1 was also preceded by a mail order EP simply called Criss, with some exclusive songs. That release was marred by an incompetent record company who took close to a year to mail out the orders.
Unfortunately, Peter did not need a record company to tank this release. This CD tanked itself. The problems with Cat #1 are three-fold:
1. No great songs. 2. Bland, uninspired performances and terrible singing by the backing band. 3. Bad production and plastic sounding drums.
The one good song is “Blue Moon Over Brooklyn”, the heartfelt ballad written for Peter’s mom who had passed away recently. This song, though imperfect, justifies me having it my collection. (Well, that and it’s Kiss related.) Phil Naro co-wrote this one, and diehard fans know he’s a talented guy who has written some pretty good songs. It’s just too bad that “Blue Moon Over Brooklyn” wasn’t fully realized by an ace band and producer. Somebody to help Peter know when he’s singing flat, you know?
Naro wrote two tunes here, “Bad People Burn In Hell” is the other. It’s not bad either. It’s a fun rocker where Peter gets to sing in his Elvis voice for a bit. But that’s basically it. The rest of the songs sound like a hodge-podge of unrelated bits stuck together, and wouldn’t even pass as filler on the worst Kiss albums. You could probably Frankenstein bits and pieces from these songs to make one good song out of the bunch of them, but that’s all. For example, the chorus from “Strike” is decent, put that with the verses from “Bad Attitude”…you know what I mean? Maybe you could make one good song out of them. (“Bad Attitude” by the way seems to be about that homeless man who claimed to be Peter as documented on the Phil Donahue show. Remember that?)
The production though is terribly bland, and Peter’s drums sound like triggered samples. They really sound terrible. The drum sound alone robs Peter of the swing. It’s distracting. His singing is good in spots, and he actually wails pretty good on tracks like “Bad Attitude”. “Bad Attitude” is vintage Kiss vocally, but shite musically.
Mike Stone sings lead on a couple tracks, and his voice is like…how do I describe this? He’s like Glenn Tipton meets an asthmatic Dave Mustaine or something. Not a good singer at all. When he takes the lead on tracks like “Show Me”, it sinks the song. Even when he backs Peter up on songs like “Bad Attitude”, it’s weak. A third voice is singing on “We Want You”, who I assume from the writing credits is Mike McLaughlin. His voice is even weaker, it’s like a raspy whisper.
Finally Peter recycled “Beth”, yet again. It was great to finally have an unplugged acoustic version of the song, but he has really milked that one, hasn’t he? It’s a good version, and it’s a slightly different mix from the one used on the earlier EP.
As marked on the cover art itself, Ace Frehley plays guitar on three songs: “Bad Attitude,” “Walk the Line,” and “Blue Moon over Brooklyn”. But you can’t really tell. Let’s talk a moment about that cover art. Actually, let’s not: You can see it for yourself, so you decide what you think. Challenge yourself to come up with one-word descriptions and post them in the comments.
Third review from Mike and Aaron go to Toronto…Again! This Zappa bought at Sonic Boom for $10.99, original greenRykodisccase intact.
FRANK ZAPPA – Baby Snakes (1983, 1995 Rykodisc)
Baby Snakes is the soundtrack album to the Zappa film of the same name, famously using clay animation by Bruce Bickford. This bizarre landmark of a movie deserves a bizarre soundtrack, which Frank ably delivers with his ace band including Tommy Mars (violin) , Terry Bozzio (on two tracks), Adrian Belew (guitar) and more.
Yet the title track is remarkably accessible. Sure, there are the typical Zappa elements: high munchkin voices, low Zappa moans, eclectic and humourous lyrics…and playing out the wazoo! There’s nothing wrong with these “Baby Snakes” as long as you can keep up with the time changes. (This is an edited version of the same song from Sheik Yerbouti.)
Before you know it, you’re live in funky New York listening to “Titties and Beer”. These live tracks were recorded Halloween 1977 at the Palladium. Will Frank sell his soul to the Devil? Is Frank rough enough to get into hell? Does he have the style that it takes? Listen to “Titties and Berr” and find out (I won’t spoil it).
“The Black Page #2” is infamously hard to play, so just listen up and hear how the pros get it done. The percussion alone makes heads spin. Another seamless transition goes into “Jones Crusher” which has a classic soul of rock. The vocal parts are damn fine, the lyrics hilarious, and Frank’s outro solo smokes. A rock and roll slant on “Disco Boy” is a tad faster than the studio counterpart. This hilarious ode to vanity and ultimately masturbation is just fun, because who doesn’t love ripping on disco?
Side two of the original LP was made up of just two tracks, both long bombers: “Dinah Moe Humm” and “Punky’s Whips”. The Ryko CD blends the two sides together without a break. You can hear the band quote “Sunshine of Your Love”) at one point in “Dinah Moe” (they quoted “In-a-Gadda-da-Vida” on side one). “Punky’s Whips” is a completely different deal. Apparently, Terry Bozzio had a bit of a man-crush, or at least a fascination with Punky Meadows from the band Angel. This satire poked a bit of fun at the expense of Punky, but who can blame them? Who could blame anyone? “Punky’s lips, Punky’s lips, his hair’s so shiny, I love his hips!” I mean, how can you not make fun of this guy? Even though the lyrics are distractingly hilarious, the music goes into epic soundtrack mode by the time Bozzio’s shouting “Jack it Punky, jack it faster!” Frank ends the song with one of his signature guitar jams, a sound that this world truly does miss.
Of note: this album was originally released on 12″ picture disc. The Ryko CD cover replicates this effect. I like that.
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