Jessica T. (jessicatok) from LINCOLN, NE Reviewed on 4/23/2007...
Terrific CD, includes hits like "Down Together," "Banditos," and tongue-in-cheek, catchy songs like "Mexico." Grab a Corona and let this alternative pop-rock take you on an amusing trip. Like the Gin Blossoms, but funnier.
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
CD Reviews
Full of Life and Energy
Mad Dog | TimbuckThree, Tennessee | 05/10/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Back in '96, I heard "Banditos" on the radio and immediately went out and bought this disc. On first listen, I liked it all. Since then, it's become an essential part of my collection. A true desert island selection. I have my favorites, including Down Together, Mekong, Girly, Banditos and Nada, but the beauty of this album is the flow. The whole album works together beautifully, conjuring up very realistic images - images of the southwest, of Mexico, of real people living their lives during the good times and the harsh. You can almost smell the dust in the air while listening to Nada, feel the pain of lost love in Girly and taste the beer in Mekong. This was an incredible rock band and I'm still bummed out that they are gone. Great recorded sound, excellent, cohesive musicianship, the whole nine yards. Essential stuff."
Most Unerrated Album EVER?
Ronald Riley | Fort Smith, AR | 08/05/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I think it's certainly possible that FFBB (as we in the "know" like to call it) is, at the very least, the most underrated album of the 90s. The songs on FFBB sound as fresh and real and often brilliant as they did a decade ago.
Much is made in some of the Amazon reviews about the "humor" of the Refreshments' lyrics, and while it's true that there are some laugh out loud moments if you really listen to the words ("European Swallow" surely has its moments), the Refreshments are more genuinely clever than just "funny" when they keep it light, and downright contemplative when they dig a little deeper, as they do with "Nada."
FFBB also contains what I consider one of the best love songs ever. "Down Together" is another of those clever songs, but its so much more than that. It's truly a rare example of a pop song that actually gets love right. It's not sappy, and the sentimental turns ("Your breath, it smells like wine, I like that a lot, especially when I kiss you") feel so genuine that it seems almost like eavesdropping on a slightly tipsy conversation between to people who are deeply in love. Honestly, I could deconstruct this one song for hours, and never begin to touch the heart of it.
Just buy this album, go out and see Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (pretty much The Refreshments V2.0) if they come to your town, and consider that this is what rock and roll should always feel like."
BUY THIS NOW!
Republichick | New York | 06/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm mostly a punk and metal fan, and yet I have only two things to say about this album: 1.) It should be issued at birth. 2.) Buy two copies in case one ever gets lost or ruined."
Going home...
Mr. Devil | Canada | 10/23/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One night I laid down in my bed and closed me eyes and really listened to "Nada". I can count two or maybe three other songs that have ever given me the same evocative shivers I felt that night."Nada" is the end of Fizzy's journey, and it works so well as a closer simply because Roger is playing with the listener's mind that perhaps this song is indeed a summation of what must be considered a stunning concept record. Even when the words themselves drift an arm's distance away from the Mexicana, the music behind them never seems to stray. Gems like "Interstate", "Blue Collar Suicide" and "Suckerpunch" appear superficially autonmous, but even after a hundred listenings, it is hard to picture Mr. Clyne singing them without his hat.Lyrically, the record is a touching, twelve stanza poem, often funny, always gifted. The humor is easy to appreciate because it is wickedly clever, and Roger sings with the kind of detached conviction that makes these songs sound at once both earnest and light-hearted. He demonstrates humility in "European Swallow" which seems almost intentional, and yet we cannot help but smile when he gets punched in the face after insulting his enemy's girlfriend. Sometimes the comical feel of the album is obviously contrived, as in "Girly" and "Banditos", yet at other times it is funny simply because it isn't trying to be, such as the "Down Together" line: 'I could give you a star / You could give me one, too / And that way we'd be even.' The smart humor scattered throughout this record is one of its many charms.The musicianship on Fizzy is exhilarating, but the stringwork stands out more than anything else. It is absolutely flawless, and solos like that found on the wonderful "Mekong" inspire bathroom mirror air-guitar fodder by nature. It isn't just the solos either... numbers like the melancholy "I Don't Wanna Know" illustrate a true master of the craft at work.It is surprising that with the countless references to Mexico (including a beautiful song by that name and liner notes written in pseudo-Spanish) that the album doesn't even border on overkill. I cannot recall any other album so completely centered around one theme, but Fizzy's constant homage to the dust and warm beer that inspired it only makes the whole record stronger. Which brings us back to "Nada", the best song on the record and, I suspect, the most meaningful to its writers. It is like a five minute movie, and somewhere inside our eyes we can really see Roger as the star. I envision him driving home, back across the border in that old truck, 'leaving the border far behind'.... leaving the very place that has been his muse for creating a fabulous and wholly satisfying piece of art. I see him watching 'the storm down in Mexico' from his rear-view mirror. And I see the chorus as his testament of love and longing for Mexico... his confession that maybe these songs, these stories, are real, and maybe not. "Nada" is about leaving. It is about going home. It is about the end of the journey, one that captures us and charms us and makes us feel good."