Search - Fred Schneider :: Fred Schneider (Jewl)

Oh gee, a great big monster!

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 12/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All the songs here are upbeat, given that it's Fred Schneider, who originally released this in 1984, before the lackluster B-52's album Bouncing Off The Satellites. A pity, because this could've been a better album for them. This was remastered and remixed in 1991."Monster" is one of my favourite tracks here, as there is an innuendo implied, although Fred states in the disclaimer that this wacky space-age song with tag team guitars that it's about a dinosaur walking around in his polka dot PJ's and not what some dirty-minded people might think. Think about it: "There's a monster in my pants and it does a nasty dance. When it moves in and out. Everybody starts to shout. Monster aah!" The backing vocalists include Kate Pierson."Cut The Concrete" is a quick-paced tune made a bit funky by the clavinet bass synth, but also fiery with some guitar by Tom Beckerman. It also features some call and responses between Fred and his male backing vocalists. "Cut the cake/cake ain't good/cut the rug/don't know if I should" and so on."Summer In Hell" is the other favourite here, about a lost city in Atlantis, so Fred says in the disclaimer, but the lyrics seem to indicate otherwise. Although after some party conversation, and the song goes on, it emphasizes "hell" as a fun party rather than the infernal regions, where the "hottest time is the hottest place/and don't be ashamed to show your face." A really fun number and a fun place to be, if someone'd invite me.The rowdy space song with its space age sounds, "Orbit" seems to be a throwback to old B-52's songs like "There's A Moon In The Sky" and is about a trip to space, encountering all sorts of things "oh...the dog in the Sputnik!" or a place I want to go, "the Asteroid of Lonely Women." Worthy enough to be a B-52's song."I'm Gonna Haunt You" is a silly Halloween song, about "spooks and ghouls and horrors and haints/one more scare and you'll see the saints." Nice and catchy, but what's a haint? Kate Pierson contributes backing vocals here.A duet between Fred Schneider and Patti LaBelle? "It's Time To Kiss" is that song, with some surf-like guitar, with the usual silly lyrics about my lips meeting your lips."Pack it up baby, put on your best dress, the ship leaves soon, this planet's a mess" says Fred on "This Planet's A Mess," about a scenario where mankind has failed the test, ecologically and possibly nuclear, and the world has gone down the tubes. The moral: "Better think about our future/Yeah, it's time we planned it."After the surfing song "Wave," comes the ultra silly "Boonga (The New Jersey Caveman)" which seems more like a dance with the "boonga boonga boonga" line, and where Fred urges the Jersey girls to shout "boonga" which they do in a really high-pitched vocal. And I give Fred credit for rhyming "snobby" with "wasabi."Fred had enough ideas of his without the rest of the B-52's. A good and silly, but fun album, though it would've been nice if a), he had released another solo album after the B-52's Good Stuff, and b) if Kate Pierson had also done a solo album herself."

It's unfortunate that they couldn't leave the original intac

Daniel W. Kelly | Long Island, NY United States | 10/26/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"nice to have this LP on CD, but I don't understand why they chose to remix 5 of the tracks--including the big single, MONSTER! They still sound good because they aren't overly remixed, but fans of the original LP will distinctly notice differences in the sounds of the songs. the five tracks remixed are:



Monster

Cut the Concrete

Summer in Hell

It's Time To Kiss(with Patti LaBelle)

This Planet's a Mess

Boonga(New Jersey Caveman)



Too bad they couldn't have included the original mixes in the original line-up and then tacked the remixes on as "bonus tracks." Because chances are, this album will never be reissued with the original mixes on CD..."

Tom is right, original 1984 us lp release SELF TITLED

jesse-g | Minneapolis, MN | 11/22/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tom you're right. The original 1984 us release was called Fred Schneider, self titled. I had a copy of the original 1985 cd pressing, which was stolen. I then found it again, which was then stoled again! >=| Then I finally once again found an original 1985 pressing, but as you can imagine it is now so oxidized that you could easily navigate a vehicle with it over your face. =(I'm thinking about getting this version to compare, if possable, but I dont like the idea of the remaster, because I remember the original sounded pretty darned good. 1991 wasn't necessarily a "bad" year for mastering engineers, but was definately the start of the demise of the "proper" mastering job.If you find an original 1985 pressing of the self titled Fred Schneider cd... please, for the sake of human kind, rip it with Exact Audio Copy secure mode and save it as FLAC or some other lossless codec. I wont stop looking... ;-)j"