Search - Legendary Stardust Cowboy :: Retro Rocket Back to Earth / Rides Again

"Paralyzed" With Identifiable Words

Robert I. Hedges | 01/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (or simply "Ledge") is one of the most amazing singers ever recorded professionally. I have been a fan ever since hearing him belt out his classic "Paralyzed" years ago. This is a two CD set featuring 25 new songs by the Ledge. They are all manic or at the very least strange. Most are amusingly listenable although I did not find the power ballad (of sorts) "Linda" very palatable for some reason.



I found the extremely jarring and disjointed "Geiger Counter" and "Egyptian Maiden" to be among the most entertaining tracks, while I found the spoken word (song-poem?) "Someone Took The Yellow From My Egg" to be perhaps the strangest thing I have ever heard on a commercially released CD (that is not to say it's good, it is one of the less inspired songs on the set, actually, but it is very peculiar.) My favorite song on the CD has to be "World's Worst Titles" a song of song titles too bad or strange for even the Ledge to use (for example, "My Baby is Shaped Like an Ironing Board"). For pure surrealism set to music, look no further.



The package is quite nice and includes a lengthy pamphlet (some of which is in French!) describing the life of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and true fans will not want to miss it. These recordings will never have wide commercial appeal, but like all good outsider music, that inherently is their appeal. I recommend this CD set to anyone who wants to broaden their musical horizons beyond the mundane.

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