Each generation gets a few complete musical geniuses, people of
\nsuch sweeping talent and diversity that it almost takes your breath
\naway when you realize how -much- they can do. One of ours is Danny
\nElfman, former lead vocalist of Oingo Boingo and current Hollywood
\ncomposer and vocalist. While Elfman’s post Oingo work is
\nbreathtaking, the band itself was no slouch; while my experience
\nwith them is limited, their pop sound, world-beat influences, and
\nclever yet angsty wordplay influenced a lot of later artists.<\/p>\n
So when a friend got out a CD and said, “You have to hear this,
\nit’s…weird,” I acquiesced. And was promptly blown out of my chair
\nwith the sheer anger, power, and musical skill.
\nBoingo<\/i> was a 1994 project by what
\nappears<\/i> to be most of Oingo Boingo, but not released under
\nthe band’s name (and why that is, I can’t seem to find anywhere on
\nthe internet. Anyone got any idea?). It’s laced with incisive,
\ncutting lyrics, complex arrangements, and fierce, bright melodies,
\nand is a powerful piece of politically themed pop music. This is
\nthe Much Less Happy Danny Elfman, and it’s a whole heck of a lot of
\nfun.<\/p>\n
The CD starts with the scathing “Insanity,” eight minutes of
\nvicious commentary on society in general (“A million years of
\nevolution\/And we get Danny Quayle…”) The intensity of the track
\nis reminiscent of late Beatles such as “Helter Skelter,” and indeed
\nthat similarity continues through tracks such as “Lost Like This”
\nand “Mary.” There is even a Beatles cover on the CD, a wonderful
\nbut bizarre cover of “I Am The Walrus.”.<\/p>\n
Other notable tracks include “Spider,””War Again,” and “Can’t
\nSee (Useless).” All are tight, well written, and pleasant, while
\nstill carrying the passion and anger Elfman feels for his subject
\nmaterial.
\nBoingo<\/i> is a joy in that it proves you don’t have to be
\natonal to really
\nsay<\/i> something about what you feel, that you don’t have to
\nonly know three chords to be pissed off.<\/p>\n
The close to the CD, “Change,” is a wry summary of everything
\nthat has gone before, a distillation of Elfman’s darkest moods and
\nthoughts…set to a perky, complex harmony and chiming guitars. All
\nat once, Elfman twists the listener into doubt and thought — which
\nis real? Melody or lyrics?<\/p>\n
\nBoingo<\/i> is a sadly-unappreciated CD. (I got my copy in a
\nlocal cut out rack for six bucks.) If you have a chance, grab
\nyourself a copy and allow yourself an hour’s trip through the fears
\nin Danny Elfman’s genius mind. You won’t find it a waste of
\ntime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":25099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6150],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36304","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-boingo","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36304"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36304"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}