"Unplugged" is a homemade CD-R album available only from Tom Rockwell. Tom is an artist as well as a rap comedy guy, so the album cover and insides have good art and funny comments. All printed material is in Swell-O-Rific black and white using Kinkomatic copy technology. The CD sound is less than "CD quality". Mainly there is a high noise level due to ancient analog equipment used in the production of the songs. Frequency response is fine and fidelity is good enough so as to not reduce the enjoyment of the album.
Songs ranked from best to worst:
track
01. South Park Junkie 03:37
07. The Mouth 05:08
----the line between good and great-----
10. Silicon Valley 01:29
06. Slow Painful Death 04:42
04. Hip Hop Gangsta 04:08
02. Fat Chicks In Spandex 03:17
08. Theory 04:05
11. Kicked In the Balls 03:24
-----the line between good and bad------
09. Everybody Dies 03:07
12. A Christmas Tail 04:44
05. Happy Birthday 02:21
03. Halitosis 03:42
Songs listed in track order:
01. South Park Junkie 03:37
Ki-ki-kick ass! A parody of "South Bronx" by Boogie Down
Productions. Good use of rhyming sound bytes. I first noticed
that idea from Luke Ski. This song was #4 in the Demento charts for
1998. I must have missed the episode where Jesus beats the crap out
of Santa Claus.
Tom Rockwell replies:
That's "The Spirit Of Christmas" which you
have to get off the internet. It's not available anywhere else and
was never aired (nor is it likely to ever be.) Look around.
You'll find it. It's a long download, but it's worth it. And
that's where I got the "That's a stupid song!" sample from at the end of
the song.
02. Fat Chicks In Spandex 03:17
The subject matter is crude, but the background music is interesting.
Half a year after playing this song, its music was plying in my head and
it took a while to figure out where I had heard it. A Talking Heads
sample here?
Tom Rockwell replies:
Give that man some prosthetic lips!
03. Halitosis 03:42
Classic Sudden Death subject matter. :( Music not good, lyrics
not good. Too bad because this is the song where Tony Mason of None
Of The Above, and Luke Ski
both sang as guest artists.
04. Hip Hop Gangsta 04:08
A mellow rap about rappers that write lyrics about living the tough
gangster life but they don't really live it. I guess the message
is: All you gangsta rappers, get out there and start killing people!
05. Happy Birthday 02:21
A cover of "Happy Birthday" by Weird Al Yankovic done in a more
rappy style. ("rappy" was not a typo, but that would work too.)
This is the same version that originally appeared on the Weird Al tribute
album "Prosthetic Lips".
06. Slow Painful Death 04:42
This is one of those songs that criticizes another song whilst
parodying the same song. Death targets The Fugees ("The Fuglees")
version of "Killing Me Softly". Not that there is anything wrong
with the song, just that the radio station is playing it to death.
07. The Mouth 05:08
About an idiot roommate who won't stop talking. Tunage based
on "Powerhouse". Great dialog at the end by guest artist Mr.
Zipp, Frank Emsley.
08. Theory 04:05
There's some decent rapping and scratching here, and some interesting
background sounds. As usual, the music has the low budget synth/
drum machine sound. This isn't a funny song but is interesting for
information about the band, how they got their name, future plans, etc.
Someone is shouting "Sudden Death!" in this song, and I think I heard "classic",
which seems like an oxymoron. A glimpse into The Man, The Mystique,
and The Band.
09. Everybody Dies 03:07
Rap song about all the Friday The 13th horror movies.
10. Silicon Valley 01:29
Death comments on breast implants.
11. Kicked In the Balls 03:24
I would have grouped this with the bad songs, but I chuckled near
the end because it was so stupid. Samples heavily from The Bee Gees
"Staying Alive".
12. A Christmas Tail 04:44
The music is pleasing enough with an interesting sound bite technique,
putting a quickie sound on each song beat. But the lyrics are on
yet another crude topic, where I think Tom goes too often.
| Sudden Death website: www.suddendeath.org
Story about recording
Unplugged
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