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Rating:
Imagine Cheap Trick at twice the frenzy...
Imagine Devo after a neuron removal...
Imagine the Ramones daring to pick up instruments other than the usual three and trying some other effects on the guitar besides the usual distortion...
Imagine the USA, as you've always seen them on TV, in soaps and sitcoms...
Think about all that plastic, all those beaches, all those roller-coasters, all those naive illusions... think about California, not the one of the hippies nor that of the skaters, but the one from Baywatch... still, thinking about it, skaters have something to do with it, since "I'm A Chollo" is a "half pipe riding" in full effect and the feeling is the same that the more determined Joey, the most inspired Screeching Weasels, the most expansive Dead Milkmen, have given us at different times...
The one by the Dickies is one of the most demented, fun and extravagant punk of the late 70s... it is a vitriolic satire of star-spangled civilization, of its most cartoonish aspects... such a caricatured approach brings to mind visual references of the caliber of Matt Groening and John Waters...
"Night In White Satin" would not look out of place in "Are We Not Men" and even indulges in an oriental interlude... "Stuck In A Pagoda" instead overlays very stupid beat falsettos ("eh-de-de-de-di-bi-du-daaa") with a Chinese operetta theme...
This album smells of the 70s, but it does not celebrate them, it turns them inside out like a glove... the ridiculous effect these songs generate is comparable to that of a US president's gaffes: they are the stupid-songs in the time of Jimmy Carter...
Not everything adds up: "Splitting Headache" feels like nothing... but on the other hand, we know: not all jokes work... "Attack Of The Mole Man" attempts the card of grotesque epic and puts the contemporary Stranglers to shame... "She Loves Me Not" once again speaks the language of Devo, and brain damage is rampant... With "Gigantor" and "Bowling With Bedrock Barney" there is the definitive landing in the distorted universe of cartoons: weak episodes, perhaps a bit self-serving, too programmatic in their studied pomp...
The Dickies, despite the limits, the simplisms, the black humour at its tamest, remain an important chapter in the history of satirical rock; it's hard to resist their jokes and, in the end, they have left us with a handful of anthology tracks...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Fan Mail (03:05)
Dear sirs,
To whom this may concern
there’s facts Id like to learn
so many things I wanna know
especially trivial info paraphernalia badges and regalia
please send me everything
cuz I
am interested in you
and every thing you do
I find myself at all your shows
could you tell me where you buy your clothes
could you sign my little sisters face
put your signature any place and please send me a bio
Cuz we’ve got fan mail
we really really read it
Fan mail
we really really need it
I sent you my letter now I want a reply
you don’t know any better than you won't take your time with my
Fan Mail
So I would like to know just if and when
you’ll be in town again
so that I could meet with you
and brag at my friends at school
have you been all around the world
have you seen every kind of girl
or are you from the other side
cause you
you can't believe everything that you read
with the hypocrysy and the greed
the papers all the things that they say
they don't tell me anything anyway
that's why I've gotta get it straight from you
concerning your situation
without an obligation
Break
My Fan mail(Oohs and Aahs)
What's this I find to my surprise
those bands that I idolized
no longer seem to exist
now tell what can be the cause of this
perhaps it could be their egos
I tell you heaven only knows
I didn't even get a newsletter
Fan Mail Send it out to me
Fan Mail Special delivery
03 Manny, Moe & Jack (02:50)
When your on the road
And your car wont pull that load
And your wheels aren't feeling fine
Well i know of this joint
Where they'll check your plugs and points
I know these guys they're three good friends of mine
Manny moe and jack
They know what i'm after
Manny moe and jack
They know what i'm after
They're manny moe and jack
Once your inside
They wont take you for a ride
They got a good deal for you and your automobile
For the right price
They will sell you fuzzy dice
And leather hand grips for your steering whee-al
Chorus
If its tires you want they got a lot for you
Dunlop, firestone, pirelli too
(8x)many moe and jack!
They know what i'm after
04 Infidel Zombie (03:03)
(Phillips, Lee, Kaballero, Ainsworth)
Well I've been running for a while
and I know that I'm next in line
she's been gettin trigger happy
and I've heard so far that she's killed 9
well it's a complicated tale
with a price on my head
and a sharp looking agent who
wants to find me certified dead
She's an infidel zombie
she gets depressed with duress
a love that cannot find me
Let me tell you
I don't believe it
There's a bullet with my name on it now
They caught me once while I was out messin around
they put me in cemented wedges but I didn't drown
I'm back on the streets and running for my life again
but I know they'll tear it down and they're gonna start
to close in
Chorus
06 Nights in White Satin (02:54)
nights in white satin
never reaching the end
letters i've written him
never meaning to send
beauty i've always missed
with these eyes before
just what the truth is
i can't say anymore
cos i love you yes i love you...
gazing at people
some hand in hand
just what i'm going through
they can't understand
some try to tell me
thoughts they cannot defend
just what you want to be
you will be in the end
07 (I'm Stuck in a Pagoda With) Tricia Toyota (02:53)
I came home one night tuned my T.V. in
my favorite show was about to begin
as I was scanning across the dial
I saw her read the news with delectable style
Then I was sure that within a while
I was Stuck
Stuck in a pagoda
with Tricia Toyota
I'm Stuck
We were watching Abe Vigoda
then every thing will be fine
Later that night we went for a drive
and I can say I never felt more alive
taking in the sights of old Tokyo
with Tricia by my side and money to blow
I knew then I never wanted to let her go
[Chorus]
[Lead]
[Chorus]
Always in a daze Always in a dream
Always find that things are not what they seem
A little Asian Goddess came from up above
I thank you NBC for sending my love
And Tricia is the one I've been dreaming of
[Chorus]
09 Attack of the Mole Men (03:40)
in the land of atlantis where the sun don't shine
it gets darker down there every day
that's when two explorers fell into a mine
and that's the price they have to pay
they carry their clubs upon their back
mole man mole man
they climb up on ground and then attack
beware of the head moleman jack
they're the slavery labour of the underground
their masters make them suffer and work
if you listen you're sure to hear the terrible sound
of mole men crawling out of the dirt
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