DBL gave all of his toys to charity.
Publisher: Shock
Sun, 20 November 2005
by: Darth Bin Laden
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Doc G (aka Editor Hilleman) sent me a package a number of weeks ago with a CD and a DVD inside for reviewing. Unfortunately, life is funny in the way that you get sick, you wind up with a ton of homework, and just when you think you're out of the woods, some more crazy stuff happens that you just can't prepare for. Sammy's note: As Buttonhole's youngest reviewer, DBL manages to make me feel really old when he mentions stuff like homework!
This latter stuff I speak of is the shocking and tragic death of Eddie Guerrero (1967-2005). Eddie, for those of you who don't know, was one hell of a wrestler. He died of a heart attack at the age of 38 at the start of this week. I got up Monday morning, to write this review, and figured I'd check out the latest wrestling news. Its been five days and it still hasn't quite sunk in. It was said many times in interviews, Eddie was the consummate performer, and he will be sorely missed by everyone, including this humble reviewer from the 'burbs of Sydney. I recommend heading to your nearest HMV or whatever your choice of DVD outlet is and order yourself a copy of Eddie Guerrero: Cheating Death, Stealing Life. This excellent DVD was released last year, and has a special place in my heart, as well as the hearts of Gimmick and Hilleman, I am sure.
Onto the business end of things. I've only listened to this CD twice, scraping my word bank and the depths of my writing ability trying to find something nice to say about this CD. All I could come up with was; unique. Kid Carpet is a guy from England who is well passed the high-school age group yet it wouldn't surprise me if he still lives with his parents. Kid Carpet's entire collection of songs on Ideas and Oh-Dears is composed from the sounds made by children's toys, most commonly toy instruments. Now don't get me wrong, there isn't anything bad about making music with inanimate objects, take that bunch of construction workers who formed a band, Stomp, I believe, and make ridiculous amounts of money on tour banging random construction objects, eg garbage bins, steel girders. In fact, it's so good that Bert McCracken of The Used has decided he will blatantly copy Stomp with a bunch of his friends from other jerk-wad bands and go on the Warped tour with them. My theory is that Bert's band mates are unhappy with his fight with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and refuse to tour until the two patch things up. My theory is they had an argument over which one of them would carry the baby. Make of that what you will.
 | | Pommy git. |
Back to KC. His work is inspired; one might say that it has legs. Unfortunately, it is overweight and can't get further than ten-feet without needing to sit down for a rest. This is largely due not to the toys, but rather KC himself. He cannot sing, and his voice is far too irritating to be classified as enjoyable spoken word.
The standout track of the album, Your Love, is standout because a Furby provides the backing vocals, chirping in with an "I love you" every now and again. Only 3 tracks hit the 3minute+ mark and only a few more pass 2 minutes. 1 minute tracks on any other CD would be considered filler, with a few exceptions, but rarely. And KC is no exception, that is to say, it is pure filler.
My first two reviews set a precedent for taking apart each track and telling you the highs, lows and in-betweens. Ideas and Oh-Dears however, is not that typical CD whereby the tracks tell a story, or even have musical structure. Its thrown together in a paper-mache of toy instruments on the bleak backdrop of a warbling, at times stoned British voice.
It's not all bad, I suppose. The first time I listened to this CD I laughed more than I had in a long time. However, I had to force myself through a second listen, attempting to analyse the tracks for any and all musical merit. Your Love is the most enjoyable track of the album, purely for the Furby. And that's a lot coming from me, considering my violent history with Furbies. I discovered completely by accident that the security gates in shopping centres causes the Furby to short circuit. So I filled a trolley with battery-loaded Furbies and ran them through the gates. What a riot.
Shock Music releases some excellent quality material, most recently I purchased the Taste Of Chaos CD/DVD that highlighted some of the better US performances, and it is one of the best buys I have made in ages. In fact, I highly recommend it to all of you. Go and buy it. But Kid Carpet's Ideas and Oh-Dears is mostly oh-dear. It'd be great for a New Year's Eve party when everyone is zonked, but its not something you'll find yourself coming back to. Ithas a great first run through, but little replay. That's a comment normally reserved for games that take 10-15 hours to finish, this CD however just pushes an hour, due to 25 minutes of silence between the last track and the 'bonus' track. 1 point for the Furby, 1 point for the idea and 2 points for the balls it took to release this.
Go and Buy this CD. I dare you to. I Dare you all to prove me wrong.ockerama@gmail.com. If you reckon you have, drop me a line, anytime.
Recommended Shock Products
Eddie Guerrero: Cheating Death, Stealing Life (DVD)
Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story (DVD)
The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection (DVD)
Taste Of Chaos: CD/DVD Package
Taste Of Christmas (The Taste of Chaos Bands singing Christmas songs. Review Soon!)
by: Darth Bin Laden
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More articles by Darth Bin Laden
Every now and then, something like this comes along that challenges the ideas and boundaries of what music is. And fails spectacularly. | |
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