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Vinnie And The Stardusters

Gourmandizer Records, 1998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dregni

REVIEW BY: Paul Hanson

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/11/1999

The album cover makes you notice them. Three naked guys, holding guitars in front of their privates. These three look like they have never been out in the sun.

If this band isn't a trio of crazy musicians, I don't know what a crazy musician is. This Twin Cities band is just nuts! To call them a spoof band is to reduce them to the same genre as Weird Al, which would be close to the mark, but too limiting. This band is astoundingly original. I laugh almost non-stop when I listen to this disc.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

To get an idea of what this band is like, the disc starts out with someone saying, "How should I know, I've never been there!" The first time I heard this, I thought, "What?" The guitar then starts playing the theme from "Seasame Street." When the song gets to the chorus, "Can you tell me how to get to Seasame Street," the same voice shouts "How should I know, I've never been there." And the song isn't even done. The song transforms into a cover of the Doors' "L.A. Woman."

There are some funny spoofs in-between track one and the spoof of the Katrina and the Waves pop hit "Walkin' On Sunshine." The Vinnie way to sing the song is "I'm Committin' Suicide." With almost all of the same lyrics, this song is hilarious. There's the witty "I've Got A Lot of Friends - The Drinking Song." Then there's the epic, "Pandomonium" in four movements called "Climb Ev'ry Mt," "Eine Kinda Not Musak," "Morea Eat Oats," and"Bela Lugosi's Shoes."

After that song, though, the band's appeal wears thin. There are 15 "tracks" of phone messages. While I used to tape phone messages people left me in college for historical reference, I don't think I'd ever release them on a CD. These messages get boring kind of quickly. The first couple are funny, but eventually, they become tediously dull.

The disc ends with "XXXMas Song." The spoof this time is "I saw Mommy fisting Santa Claus." Okay. The song is a fitting conclusion to the chasos of this disc.

And that's Vinnie and the Stardusters. Sure there are some slow moments, like the phone messages, but for 95% of this disc, this is pure heaven. I think that the band's originality will take them as far as they want to go in the national scene. I didn't get a press kit with this disc so I can only hope the band aspires to play to big audiences and to bring their humour to the masses.

Rating: A-

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© 1999 Paul Hanson and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Gourmandizer Records, and is used for informational purposes only.