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The Man Man are a merry bunch capable of creating a cabaret world that everyone would want to be part of; they are a steam train loaded with circus musicians capable of amazing us with any instrument or trinket, ready to derail in a vaudeville and goliardic style, distinctive of their always original and saturated music.
In this third work, they do not betray expectations: with "Mister Jung Stuffed" they start off wild and acrobatic, driven by tipsy school choirs, all seasoned with varied noises; Honus Honus' voice has the smoky charge of Tom Waits and a frivolous soul. With "Hurly/Burly" the wild cabaret continues its journey through oblique melodies, sonic knick-knacks, and carousel screams; the train is unstoppable: "The Ballad Of Butter Beans" has an irritating rhythm, the marimba is frantic, and the singer improvises himself as a crowd agitator pushed by buzzing choirs.
A limping and tipsy Zappa might have created "Big Trouble", a blues march built on Pow Pow's claudicating drums, on quirky trumpets and squeezed-voice choirs, with Honus Honus thinking he is a zombie, before revealing his intimate yet carefree side in "Doo Right" and in the title track, songs for keyboard and voice. With "Easy Eats" we find ourselves in the turmoil surrounded by elephants precariously balancing on small balls and ostriches tamed by quirky jugglers. Fleeting keyboard touches, solid male choirs, and fleeting female choirs herald a frantic "Harpoon Fever" where an almost overbearing voice seems to chastise us for something, just as in "Top Drawer" where Honus Honus at the keyboard with the rest of the group behind him admonishes the spectator.
"El Azteca" makes room for a kind of cybernetic rhythmic experimentation, while the last two tracks are long suites: in "Poor Jackie" a tragic violin and renaissance strings open a waltz that later becomes an exotic introspection, until it turns into a funeral march, accompanied by siren choirs and contaminated by trumpet gargles. "Whale Bones" proceeds stealthily, it's nocturnal: banjo, melodica, trumpets that sigh like gentle wind gusts and the singer strolling with hands in pockets through a deserted Philadelphia with the keyboard marking his steps; the choir is a cloud of smoke that velvety contaminates the song.
The Man Man are inimitable live, dressed in shorts and white shirts, with faces marked white, keyboard and drums placed face to face in the front row, adorned with trinkets of all kinds for a hilarious Honus Honus-Pow Pow face-off. In this difficult world why can't anything be easy?
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