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Record Reviews by Chris Mezzolesta
Nummy Muffin Cocoa Butter

"Cabbie Road"     Score: 70   Critiqued August 7, 2004

Paul Rubin writes: Review away, but try to imagine you're in your late 40's... that you love Prokofiev and Mancini.

Paul Rubin seems to be the glue that holds this band together.  He is an enthusiastic member of the funny music community.  I guess he gives away more CDs than he sells.  The music is well produced.  The comedy is hit and miss like the dizzy blindfolded kid trying to hit the piñata.  He is also the voice on most of the songs and narrations.  His voice would be great as the announcer of upcoming shows on Comedy Central.  Yes, there is a purpose in life for everyone.  The song on this album that stuck in my mind goes "SUV's they S-U-C-K."  Not to be confused with the song on this album about a song sticking in his mind, called "Bungalow Bill Ad Nauseam."  Also amusing is "The Italian Song", where Paul tells the story of a record label in Italy, not very familiar with Cab City Combo the novelty band, that asked him to record a cover version of an Italian standard that they would put on an album.  In the extra silly department, "Metal Jr." is an advertisement for a kiddy album of nursery rhymes played heavy metal style.  Also on the acceptable list is "Banned By The Man", a rant about Cafepress.com's rejection of his excellent Cabbie Road cover for reasons of intellectual property.  That seems crazy to me considering how many other parody album covers are out there for sale.  "Peter And The Wolf And The Burrito" gets dishonorable mention for being a total waste of music.  Worse than unacceptable.  Such a bad idea.  Doomed from the start.  Is it over yet?  You gotta be demented to record a thing like that.

Paul Rubin writes: Yessir! You are correct sir!!

Sam Barleycorn?

Dude - It's all about narrowcasting.  In the 70s, Steve Winwood (then a member of the band TRAFFIC) did a song called JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE -- It was based on an olde Englishe song that was a metaphor for making whiskey, but was all about cutting John Barleycorn off with a scythe...etc..   aw, ferget it.

Narrowcasting...  That could explain a lot of things about the Combo and their hillbilly smeggle rock.

What, no comments about Ghostriders Up The Nose?

That's a brave request.  Bad song, that.  Drippy yi yo.

It's a C&W standard, AND it's about snot, for cryin out loud.  I slave over a hot novelty stove, and this is the thanks I get...  Well, at least my Houg-Score is moving in a satisfactory downward  spiral. 82 for the first album, and 70 for this one. At this rate, I should be able to hit negative numbers in about seven years. So wait for it.

tracklist:

1.  Ghostriders Up The Nose
2.  The S.U.V. Song
3.  My Cabbie Is A Madman
4.  Days Of The Weak
5.  Bungalow Bill Ad Nauseam
6.  The Italian Song (with English narration)
7.  Metal Jr.
8.  Banned By The Man
9.  L&O vs. C.S.I.
10.  Sam Barleycorn
11.  Peter And The Wolf And The Burrito
12.  The Italian Song (without English narration)

"Pork Side Of The Moon"   Score: 82   Critiqued June 2, 1999 by Eric Houg     Last messed with June 9, 2000
Scores range from 0 to infinity, infinity being best.  (Tim Cavanagh's "Sounds Like Fun" is the arbitrary reference 100 score.)

    Despite the title, most of the songs here are original music.  Highly competent music recorded in high fidelity.  Mainly scored for humor, but there were also songs with medium to no lyrical merit, in which the good music alone helped the score.  This band reminds me of Slant 6 And The Jumpstarts, who also sent me a free CD for no apparent reason, but sang about gout instead of diabetes.

Tracks ranked from best to worst:
08.  Ford's Theatre Wipeout  <--BEST
23.  Big Umbrella
20.  Scratch'n'Hear
05.  Louis, Louis
10.  Needle Girl
03.  Needle Boy
12.  On a Bus with Buster
13.  Lake Pennsylvania
18.  Monkey King
24.  Aqualounge
14.  Pinball Wizard in 7 seconds
07.  Our Venal Volcano
02.  Shampoo
22.  Insulin
16.  Santa Klutz
25.  Sulu's Day
04.  908-4-6553
17.  After You Alphonse
15.  Love Makes Me Sick
09.  Jesus Jr.
21.  Another Christmas Song
06.  My Little Di
19.  High Entropy
11.  Indiancorn
01.  Pork Side Of The Moon   <--WORST

Comments:

01.  Pork Side Of The Moon  00:16
The title track.  Oh dear, they're off to a bad start with this meaningless heap of sounds.

Paul Rubin, head honcho for Cab City Combo, responds:
Ah HA! What may at first seem to be a meaningless heap of sounds is actually a carefully-orchestrated satire of the sound effects that open the song "Money" on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"

02.  Shampoo  01:31
Shampoo, wet lather rinse repeat.  That's all the lyrics to this song.  But there is some worthy music here.  Perhaps they will progress to full meaningful dialog by the next track.

03.  Needle Boy  02:08
Yes, they fully evolved to meaningful sentences about being a diabetic "needle boy".

04.  908-4-6553  03:10
Uh oh, a setback.  They've gone to numbers instead of lyrics.  Well actually there's a bunch of lyrics about what this number could be.

05.  Louis, Louis  02:32
A cover of "Louie Louie" with clearly enunciated words.  Are these the original mumbled lyrics?  The world may never know.  I think they departed somewhat from the original.  It's more goofy, with the opera style lady singing the refrain: "Lewis Lewis."

06.  My Little Di  02:55

07.  Our Venal Volcano  01:08
If I avoid trying to figure out the stupid lyrics, I am left with a halfway decent rock tune.

08.  Ford's Theatre Wipeout  02:54
"There in the Lincoln, Abe was cool as ice
Wearing 3D glasses, watching Vincent Price"
Lines like these made me smile. :)  Cool song about a guy named Johnny.  Maybe he's the guy the homecoming queen with a gun did it for.

09.  Jesus Jr.  02:02
"The country western Christ."  I would like it if the song made up some goofy heretical stuff for a laugh, but this just isn't funny.

10.  Needle Girl  01:40
Needle Boy sings about his dream girl.  :)

11.  Indiancorn  01:58
"Wanna pop some corn."
That's all they wrote for this chant.  It reminded me of a simple electronic pop tune from the early 70's, "Popcorn" by Hot Butter.

Paul Rubin responds:
Well...it actually IS a cover of "Popcorn"...you see...Indians sing it...so it's called "Indiancorn".....ah never mind.

12.  On a Bus with Buster  02:55
Pleasing soft music.  OK story.

13.  Lake Pennsylvania  03:43
"Let's sink Pennsylvania and then put in a lake.
We could always dry it off if we made a mistake."

14.  Pinball Wizard in 7 seconds  00:09
That would have rocked if they kept going.

Paul Rubin responds:
But then it wouldn't have been "in 7 seconds"

15.  Love Makes Me Sick  01:47
16.  Santa Klutz  01:54
17.  After You Alphonse  00:48
18.  Monkey King  02:53

19.  High Entropy  02:24
That was the funny word we loved to use in physics and chemistry class, but it didn't get used so well here.

20.  Scratch'n'Hear  03:50
There's a novel concept, Scratch'n'Hear.  I like the insight from the story of yet another band trying to hit the big time.  I like the tune so much that I started singing along with it.

21.  Another Christmas Song  02:15
22.  Insulin  02:52
A soft rock tribute to insulin.

23.  Big Umbrella  02:31
My pet peeve is people who block the entire aisle in the grocery store with their shopping cart and their big fat aaa choo ('scuse me).  I never had to walk through the crowded sidewalks of New York city in the rain, where I might encounter some %&#@ using a big umbrella.  But I can imagine. :Þ  This song caused visible/ audible chucklelization.

24.  Aqualounge  04:04
Aqualung sung lounge style, an unlikely scenario.  As in "Louis, Louis", I finally understand the lyrics.

25.  Sulu's Day  08:57
What a long dragged out Star Trek spoof this is.  A tired idea, lots of dead air, such as 13 seconds of nothing but monotonous star ship beeping from 0:57 to 1:10.  October 29 1999 Later more enlightened point of view: This skit meant to show how boring it was on the Starship Enterprise for the crew while those few officers went on their adventure to the planet below.  The voices here are well done and they have captured the formula of the show well.