Sudden Death "Unplugged"
Score: 80 Scores range from 0 to infinity, infinity being best.  Reference 100 score is Tim Cavanagh's "Sounds Like Fun".
Reviewed by Eric Houg

   "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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