Audio Cassette review:
The Dead Milkmen - Cream of the Crop: Best of the Dead Milkmen

The Dead Milkmen - Cream of the Crop: Best of the Dead Milkmen

Band: The Dead Milkmen Title: Cream of the Crop: Best of the Dead Milkmen Rating: Release Date: 03 November, 1998 Media: Audio Cassette Tracks: 1: Bitchin' Camaro 2: Punk Rock Girl 3: Thing That Only Eats Hippies 4: Surfin' Cow 5: Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything) 6: Smokin' Banana Peels 7: Stuart 8: Beach Song 9: Dean's Dream 10: Laundromat Song

Customer Reviews LAME Cow true, it does have their most popular songs on it, but 11 tracks? from a punk band? it can't be much more than like 15 minutes long. this is just a really cheap product that has "record company cash-in" all over it. i suppose if 'punk rock girl' and 'bitchin' camaro' are the only songs you're interested in, then this is right down yr alley. however, "death rides a pale cow' is a much better compilation of songs, and provides a pretty good career retrospective(although legal wrangling among Hollywwod and Restless records prevented any songs to appear from 'soul rotation' and 'not richard but dick'). 'cream of the crop' is like one of those crappy beach boys or beatles 'greatest hits' collections that are like 10 songs that they sell at rite-aid or cvs. so if yr the kind of person who buys their music at a pharmacy, this cd is for you. Nice price, but too short! The price is right, but a greatest hits album that's only 15 minutes is lame and a disservice to the Dead Milkmen (if their not the one's behind it). The Dead Milkmen are great and this may be the perfect introduction to their music, but this album is only like 15 minutes long. Don't miss Stewart, Bichin Camaro, Smokin' Banana Peels, and Punk Rock Girl. Infectious pop-punk for the 1980ýs One guy mentions he might see his favourite cover band that does irreverent Doors covers, e. The first song, "Bitchin' Camaro" consists of the banter between two of the members about what they're going to do over the weekend. g. "Love me two times, girl, cause I got AIDS/Love me two times baby, once for tomorrow, once cause I got AIDS. " And a chop at Vince Neil is included. It's the last half minute or so that's a quick adrenalized burst of rebellious punk. "I ran over some old lady one night at the county fair/And I didn't get arrested because my Dad's the mayor. " Whoa! "Punk Rock Girl" is the song that introduced me to them back in the late 1980's. A paean to the ideal girl in the punk genre, there are outright amusing lines during the couple's trip to the pizza place and the mall. At a record store, "we asked for Mojo Nixon/they said he don't work here/I said if you don't have Mojo Nixon, then your store could use some fixin'" and this classic one, "We got into a car, away we started rollin'/I said how much you pay for this/, she said nothing, man, it's stolen. " "The Thing That Ate Hippies" is a playful bash against the hippie generation, particularly Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. It's about a monster that goes around eating surfers and hippies. Great line: "It ate Stills and Nash before they could shout. It chewed on David Crosby but it spit him out. " Ouch! "Surfin' Cow" begins with a cool instrumental surf guitar with accompanying bass rhythm before leading into a roaring punk/surf sound that Shadowy Men on A Shadowy Planet would adopt. The one line involves trying to find a girl who looks like Patti Smith in order to drag her home. The funky "Another One Bites The Dust"-sounding "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance To Anything)" is a slap at groups like the Smiths, Depeche Mode, Book Of Love, and "anything by a bunch of stupid Europeans who come over here with their big hairdos and intent on taking our money instead of giving your cash to a decent American band where it belongs like myself. " There's a ringing and snarling guitar that follows "Choke on this, you danceteria types!" Another inflammatory line: "80 pounds of makeup on your art school skin/80 points of IQ located within!" OK, I like The Smiths and Depeche Mode, but I like Dead Milkmen as well. Pity how accepting many genres of music leads in a song where one genre attacks another. "Smokin' Banana Peels" is a brisk number that's a reference back to the myth in the 1960's that one could get high doing. . . well, you know. There are distorted vocal phrases inserted such as: "Life is easy with ice cubes. " The sweet poppy guitar and refrain "It's so mellow. . . " is a clear reference to Donovan's song "Mellow Yellow. " The final line left me laughing, "Don't talk to me about Elvis/Take Elvis for a walk and shut up!" "Stuart" is the funniest song here. Well, whisky-voiced redneck/trailer park resident rant would be more apt. The ranter talks about some sub-intelligent kid who searches a tree for his burrow owl--"Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick! Everybody knows a burrow owl lives in a hole in the ground! Why the h--- do you think they call it a burrow owl?" -- then really loses it when he gets into a conspiracy about gays ruining the soil, then linking it to the aliens. "They're building landing strips for gay Martians. " "Beach Song" is basically a bash against the beach crowd, with the juvenile chorus "I don't wanna be on the beach! NO FUN!" And there's an eye-rolling criticism on his girlfriend: "She lies on the beach like a barrier reef/soaking up the stupid sun/while the radio is blaring `fun fun fun'" "Dean's Dream" is catchy but darned if I caught what it was about. "Laundromat Song" is about a slacker watching people at the Laundromat. Seeing a hot-looking girl, "my mind gets dirty while my clothes get clean/I'm gonna give her my ALL or Borax" Engaging, surf guitar/pop-punk songs that range in the 2 to 3 minute bites. A good picker-upper for a lousy day. . You can see a complete list of all The Dead Milkmen discography, or go back to the The Dead Milkmen tabs