intro to Oingo Boingo!
Forbidden Zone
Oingo Boingo ep
Only A Lad
Nothing To Fear
Good For Your Soul
Danny Elfman So-Lo
Dead Man's Party
BOI-NGO
Boingo Alive
Skeletons in the Closet
Dark at the End of the Tunnel
Best O' Boingo
Boingo
Farewell
Anthology
20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection
Dead Band's Party (tribute album)
Drink To Bones That Turn to Dust (tribute album)

Oingo Boingo ended it all on All Hollow's Eve, 1995 with a four hour show at the Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles. Prior to that were the 17 years Boingo is best known for... years of performing live, recording albums and appearing on the soundtrack of any teen party film that would have them. But even before that, throughout most of the '70s, were The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo... a band of zany street performers whipping out their dark, cabaret-style antics in public places around Southern California.

Danny Elfman, Boingo's resident mad genius, wrote the music and sang the songs himself throughout the band's rock 'n roll incarnation. Over the years, his supporting cast included numerous musicians, but certain players stuck with him for the entire 17 year trip: lead guitarist Steve Bartek; drummer Johnny 'Vatos' Hernandez; and a sturdy horn section made up of Dale Turner, Sam Phipps, and Leon Schneiderman. John Avila added his plucky bass talents and lively stage presence to all but the first six years of Oingo Boingo's existence. Keyboardists came and went over time. During the band's final two years, Elfman added an additional guitarist, an accordion player and even dropped his beloved horn section for one tour.

Around 1986, on a little film known as Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Danny Elfman began his second career in earnest... that of film score composer. For the next nine years he would quietly divide his time between Boingo projects and scoring films for directors such as Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and Clive Barker. Meanwhile, Elfman's 'contemporaries' ...Sting, Peter Gabriel, and David Byrne... would get all the ink in the press. Most years, when all was said and done and music hours were logged, Elfman would have written more new music than all three of these fellows combined.

Partly due to the frustration of being ignored by radio stations and critics, and partly out of fear of becoming a music industry relic... Boingo dissolved itself as a band and treated its die-hard fans to a farewell tour which it recorded for posterity.

Forbidden Zone is the soundtrack to a cult movie about the Sixth Dimension, a strange place one can only travel to through secret basement doors connected to inter-dimensional intestines which are, in turn, connected to large cartoon sphincters that deposit you, squelchingly, right next to a cambio. As you may have already guessed, there's no way out of the sixth dimension once you've been crapped into it. Sounds kinda familiar.

Herve Villechaize (better known to the rest of the world as 'Tattoo') is the King here and he is locked in a constant struggle with Satan over who gets the chicks that fall through the dimensional portal. Susan Tyrell is his estranged Queen who habitually makes slaves of trespassers from other dimensions.

Visually, Forbidden Zone comes off as a cross between Eraserhead, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and an extended black & white Max Fleischer cartoon. But enough about the film... if you need to know more... go rent it, or catch it at the cool revival theater in your town (assuming you have a cool revival theater in your town... if you don't, you really should consider moving closer to the cities).

Unless you can locate some hard-to-find bootlegs, the soundtrack for this film is your best chance to hear the band in their 'Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo' incarnation. The film was made by Danny Elfman's older brother, Richard, at the tail end of the Mystic Knights theater days. It derives much of its musical stylings from Calloway era jazz with some very Ellington-inspired musical arrangements. Many of the tracks, such as 'Some of These Days' and 'Bim Bam Boom' are actually borrowed from that era but have been re-contextualized with fart sounds and dialogue from the film. 'Squeezit the Moocher' is, of course, 'Minnie the Moocher' performed with new lyrics that serve as a plot device setting up the decapitation of one of the film's main characters. However, the original material put forth from the mind of Danny Elfman hints at the direction Oingo Boingo was about to go. Musically, 'Battle of the Queens,' 'Alphabet Song,' and the album's title track would have made for some interesting cuts on future Boingo releases were it not for their innate silliness.

I give Forbidden Zone a 7. With this release, not only do we get to hear the earliest studio recorded Boingo tunes... we also get a glimpse into Danny Elfman's rapidly approaching twin futures: leader of an innovative band and creator of cool sounds for trippy little movies... the former realized almost immediately with the releases of the Oingo Boingo ep and Only A Lad; the latter achieved over six years later when Elfman rolled a few fat ones with Tim Burton on the set of Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

(Incidentally, due to licensing rights and the lawyers who cause them, the 1980 lp version of FZ has two more tracks than the CD version which came out in 1990.)

Reader Comments

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
I just had to comment on this. I used to have it, but sold it out of pure boredom. I don't see how a patchy collection of songs written by an inexperienced Elfman can get a better score than "Only A Lad," which is a much more well-written and fluid album. I honestly can't remember liking any of the songs except maybe "Squeezit the Moocher," which was still lousy. I give the album a one. Maybe a two on a really good day.

geech@teleport.com (Christopher Dorr)
Thank you ad infinitum for this site. No, really...it's so good to see the legions of true fans making it known. As for the Forbidden Zone: While at first hearing (which was a viewing of the film) I was rather...uhh...confused, this album has absolutely cemented itself into my heart. You will find nothing that compares. Not neccessarily meaning in the Boingo canon (which is true, though), but anywhere. The brilliant interweaving of the old standards/warped takes on those, and the sheer madness of The Mystic Knights and the cast make for a roller coaster of a musical treat. I still think the Forbidden Zone theme is one of their best songs. Get this and hang with it, it takes time but the payoff is huge. Remember when listening, Elfman has had NO classical training.

Oh...please include a plea to Danny (or anyone else) to put together a comprehensive Mystic Knights audio/video collection. The world needs this.

V. Artifice
Hi, I was just looking at your Oingo Boingo site and thought it was very good. I had a tidbit of info regarding the Mystic Knights incarnation of the band that I think is interesting to note. There appears to be a direct Oingo Boingo / Mr. Bungle connection. I heard from several sources that William Winant, an integral member of Mr. Bungle until about 3 years ago when he left the band, played in the Mystic Knights for a while before they turned into Oingo Boingo. Have you heard this? Fans may find this interesting since both bands have many similar traits.

ecacrawford@yahoo.com (craig crawford)
howdy. I remember seeing the mystic knights on the gong sho when I was a mere eight years old. I have tried hard and fast to find someone online who has a mpeg of the event. someone has to have it. please let me know. I'm willing to trade and I have lotsa stuff. thanx, cc.
btw, That's a movie I'd like to get my mentally retarded swedish hands on..........

There are three original Boingo tracks and a cover tune on this little ep. 'Only A Lad' is an angry tune about a judge's.. nay... about our society's releasing of a violent kid from prison who then goes on to hurt more people. It's also a Boingo classic and should've been the first tune you ever heard from the band and not, for example, 'Weird Science' which came out on their seventh release. I'll admit that, although 'Only A Lad' was the first Boingo tune I ever heard, for the longest time I thought this was an Elvis Costello song. Don't ask me why. By the time I was set straight on this point, I was wearing out the grooves on Boingo's Nothing to Fear lp.

'Ain't this the Life' pokes fun at rich folk and in the chorus Elfman performs the vocal equivalent of an epileptic seizure (and I mean this in the best possible way). 'Violent Love' is a cover of an old Willie Dixon tune with a punk/ska bounce added to it. Lastly, 'I'm So Bad' briefly crawls into the head of one of those psycho stalker characters we all fear so much.

The IRS label is deceased resulting in this release still only being available on vinyl. I no longer have a turntable to play it on, but I love staring at the psychoactive kitty cat on the cover.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
7/10 My only complaint is that it wasn't longer. ``Ain't This the Life'' has always been an all-time favorite.

taosterman@yahoo.com (Rich Bunnell)
I agree with the 7 because it's a bit too short and the music is a bit too raw, quite far from where Danny and the boys would be just a bit later. The music is definitely fun, though, and "Only A Lad" is a bonafide classic.

zendawg@email.msn.com (steven huckaby)
great site, i am eternally in your debt (in a legally non-binding sort of way, of course) i only have a small notion to pass along. the version of only a lad on the ep is different from the one on the eponymous album (which is a shame, because i prefer the ep version but no longer have a turntable)

Huck0500@cs.com
This was the first record I ever bought. I got my own record player when I was 10 years old. My parents took me to the store to get a record, and I spent at least an hour looking around, trying to decide what I wanted. I had been listening to an oldies radio station up to that point and had no clue about music at all. I saw that cat and chose it for no other reason than the art. I remember listening to that record for hours at a time, over and over, on my grandparents huge console stereo. I had no idea that music could be like that; it completely changed my life, really. Later, Boingo became huge in my area (Southern California), and I eventually moved on to punk and thought Boingo was too popular, and like a stupid teenager I got rid of it. Oh well.

lotus@surfbest.net (Michael A. Adashefski)
I've gotta throw in 2 bits of comment. The e.p. you reviewed was the 2nd e.p. by Boingo. The 1st was pressed in a limited run of 130 copies and the covers were done by hand by Sam "Sluggo" Phipps and varied in color and all individually numbered. The tracks were Only A Lad, Ain't This The Life, Forbidden Zone and I'm So Bad and it was issued on a small independant label, not I.R.S. as the 2nd one was. This is one of the most sought after releases in the world and they sometimes show up on Ebay, so Boingoloids should keep a lookout and save your bucks. I just sold my copy #16 for a fat $600.00 but of course kept a cd copy for my own head. Happy Looking!

macnewman@hotmail.com (Michael Newman)
Is it just me or does almost all of Elfman's music sound like a precision machine at work. Don't get me wrong. That is not a complaint. It's why i listen to boingo. I love to listen to high energy albums while i work and this is one of my favorites. Even when they seem to be slow songs, Boingo has some insturment with a fast pace playing. That is why i love them. I have a question for you though. What do you mean when you say people 'forced themselves to like it'? Are they trying to fit in with the other Boingo fans? I wont force myself to like the Boingo album.

zgreeny@gmail.com (David (greeny))
I was there. Yes, at the final concert, on the last day.....Halloween. It was magnificent! I have been to so many Oingo Boingo concerts that I lost track of how many. In 1988 I believe, they played a concert in Fresno, CA, where I was going to University. I actually got to work center spotlight! It was the best time of my whole life. The Lighting Director, at the end of the concert said I was "great" on the spot. I had an advantage.....I knew every song by heart, so knew exactly when to key in on Danny. (-: All of the band signed my Dead Man's Party album that night. I still have it....in perfect condition. I also have two of the original 10" eps. (-: Will be buried with them too! I cannot say enough good things about my favorite band of all time. Their lyrics evoke emotions from my entire life....so far. No other band has come close to replacing them. There are no bad Oingo Boingo songs. One just has to have an open mind to all their incredible creativeness and the growth of them as humans. They have changed to perfection and ended it that final night with four hours of glory and tribute. Universal Amphitheatre will never ever have anything so incredible happen there again. I purchased four tickets for that show and took three friends that still say that was the best concert of all time.....and they were not big Oingo Boingo fans. I am now 42 years young, now live in Byron Bay, Australia, and still listen to them every day. What's nice is that I am now turning a whole new generation (country) on to Oingo Boingo. It is amazing how many of the Aussies love Oingo Boingo. (-: I have loved spending the past couple of hours reading what people have to say about Oingo Boingo. It is nice to know that there are others in the world that appreciate the pure genius of Elfman and Oingo Boingo. (-:

"What the HELL do you know about suffering and pain, you dumb fuck?!" Apparently Danny Elfman knows more about it than you, or at least did back in 1981 when Only A Lad came out. This is Boingo's funniest and most socially critical album. Elfman was some kind of anti-hippie, harboring a patriotic, right-wing viewpoint that faded quickly from his future lyrical musings.

'Capitalism' takes lefties to task: "You're just a middle-class, socialist brat / From a suburban family / And you never really had to work" I love this song! It's one of my favorite Boingo tunes to sing-along to... and I'm one of those lefty types the song is dissing (even though the concept of 'dis' is still ten years away when this album hits the record store shelves).

Only A Lad has its finest moments during a tightened up version of the title track and during 'On the Outside' each of which, to this day, manages to finagle its way on to my 'best of' Boingo compilation tapes.

'Nasty Habits' is an over-the-top exploration of what people do when they think no one is watching. With the onslaught of new wave (a movement Oingo Boingo is very much associated with though undeservedly so if you ask me...) came many synthetic sounds and technological introspection... thus 'Perfect System' and 'Controller' analyze the forms oppression will take in the future.

Elfman uses 'Imposter' to abuse the critics who were slamming the band for leaving theatrics and entering the realm of album rock. There are those who would probably call 'Little Girls' a Boingo classic, but I've never really liked this tune... not because of its subject matter (about a guy who likes his women a little too young), but due to its being a somewhat contrived attempt to shock the listener, along the lines of Devo's 'Mongoloid' or Wall of Voodoo's 'Exercise.'

Elfman, still experimenting with styles, has one more album to go before finding the 'Boingo sound' as it were. He seems to waiver between sounding like Devo, the Attractions, or coming up with something mostly new and different. With few exceptions, the horns don't quite fit in with the new wave guitar and synthesizer you hear pumping out of your speakers. There's a great deal happening on this album and most of it takes a third or fourth listen to settle in... but Only A Lad is still a better first album than most bands' of this era were.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
8/10 While I agree that the group hadn't really found their ``sound'' with this album, the sounds are still definitely Oingo Boingo. You mention ``Nasty Habits'' -- tribal drums with ranging horns and (at least, to me) light-hearted lyrics. The theme song says enough to base a term paper on (which I have). The thing I like about the theme song, as well as ``Little Girls'' and ``Capitalism,'' is that people have to ask, ``Is he serious?'' I've always appreciated the songs in which Danny *is* being sarcastic, even though he certainly sounds like he believes it. Also, though not my favorite rendition of ``You Really Got Me'' (that belongs to Van Halen, maybe), Boingo certainly did something different with it!

kardell@nantucket.net
I agree with Peter's last comment. Oingo Boingo is my favorite band (I'm listening to BOINGO right now)and it's definitely not the average run of the mill new wave pop band. These guys were something new. When people compare them to Devo, I wonder how that suggestion possibly crept into their mind. These guys had their own sound; Danny, my favorite composer of all time, is a genius of songwriting. Also, most other new wave bands were preaching for drug abuse, etc. These guys didn't. They sarcastically mocked it. I'm anti-drug-smoke-alcohol, and I'm proud of Oingo Boingo for not using any of that. Besides that comment, I disagree about ONLY A LAD. It is my favorite album by OB, tied with NOTHING TO FEAR, of course.

taosterman@yahoo.com (Rich Bunnell)
Eh? A six?!? This album rules! The lyrics are among the funniest Elfman ever penned (a blatant defense of capitalism? Odes to pedophiles and masturbation? A song praising capital punishment?)-- I don't like the version of "Only A Lad" on here as much as the one on the EP but it's still a fine song, and at least half of the album consists of utterly perfect classics. It's just a hoot reading the lyric sheet, and we have the great music to top it off, with "Nasty Habits," definitely one of the most well-orchestrated and hilarious Boingo songs ever, ending it all. Sure, "Little Girls" is very, very obvious lyrically, but who cares-- it's a hilarious song to quote to people randomly and freak them out, and the melody kicks. A 9/10!

akenyon@ups.edu (Amanda J. Kenyon)
Good good. My mom had this on a tape when I was a young'un, and it was my favorite for a long long time. (I was a bizarre little kid.) "Nasty Habits" has always cracked me up, and I think there's a federal law against disliking "Only a Lad". You just gotta love the whole thing.

ChronosNorton@aol.com (Kilroy Blues)
Only A Lad is the second Boingo album I ever listened to and got (DMP was the first). I think this album is great! The title track is pretty cool and tells an interesting story, Imposter, Controller, Nasty Habits...all excellent songs. Amongst my favorites are Capitalism and On the Outside. Perfect System reminds me somewhat of the book "1984" and Little Girls scares me just a little (the song doesn't scare me as much as the video). Otherwise, this album is pretty damn cool. I give it a 9 out of 10 overall.

twingtwong@msn.com (Talia Honomichl)
I'm probably the only 16 year old that I know that is obsessed with Oingo Boingo. Danny Elfman is a god to me. These are some of the best songs. When I first heard Nasty Habits, I kinda laughed/cringed (not at the lyrics, but the way Danny was singing). Now I totally love it. One of my favorites. I heard Little Girls for the first time on the radio, actually, Êand it was love at first listen. One of the most "honest" songs I know. I wonder when Britney Spears is gonna come out with "I Love Older Men"?

HaroBikeLover13@aol.com
I am another 16 year old who is thouroughly obsessed with oingo boingo. They are by far the best band ever to grace the world with their music. I purchased Only A Lad LP at a used bookstore, and I was hooked. Nasty Habits sounds like something that would later come out of pee-wee's big adventure. I love the horns, not many bands can pull it off like Oingo Boingo has. They will always have a special place in my heart. It gets a 9.5/10

I have a hard time believing this is the same band who sang "I love little girls / They make me feel so fine" on their previous album. Only a year has gone by, but on Nothing to Fear Elfman seems infinitely more comfortable in his role as a composer of music. He's abandoned obvious attempts at humor and irony opting instead to allow his lyrical notions to run their natural course and, if that course turns out funny or ironic.. so be it! He now is effectively manipulating moods with the music and he has created an atmosphere where all eight of the instruments belong and not one sounds like it was added as an afterthought.

I imagine this to be the first Boingo album where Danny heard the finished musical pieces in his head before putting them to paper (The alternative, you ask? Why, composing a song with one or two basic instruments and then adding additional instruments after a ground work has been established, of course!). Elfman is obviously confident on this album and maybe even a little bit cocky.

Nothing To Fear starts off with four simple, mellow keyboard notes played repeatedly suggesting a somewhat new age tune to follow. This misconception is destroyed immediately as the rapid-fire bass line jumps in. And, just when you think you know where the music might be going next, Elfman starts hammering away on a Rumba-phone. The Rumba-phone is an original musical instrument (invented by Boingo sax player Leon Schneiderman according to the liner notes) which sounds like a xylophone made of perfectly tuned conch or abalone shells. The song, of course, is 'Grey Matter' and it's hard not to be impressed with it as it swirls around you. Play this tune very loud.

Next up is 'Insects' which contains within it the most appropriate usage of a synthesizer sample known to music. The song is an apt expression of the frustration one feels when dealing with the tiniest of earth's creatures.

With 'Private Life,' the band had its first "hit" song and MTV video. Ironically, it was lack of video channel support of Oingo Boingo that frustrated the band the most over the years to come but, at the dawn of the music video age, there was Boingo off-setting bands like Dire Straits and Loverboy with a low budget video about a guy who is afraid to leave his bedroom. It was this video that served as my introduction to the strange world of Oingo Boingo.

All the songs on Nothing to Fear are strong. Among the best: 'Wild Sex (in the working class)'--- a love song of sorts, and a funny one at that. 'Whole Day Off' is a very sly tune that kinda struts and slides coolly toward you until you find yourself strutting and sliding along with it. 'Reptiles and Samurai,' the last track, was my favorite Boingo tune for the longest time. I'm still not exactly sure what it's about, to tell you the truth... nobility? duty? is it a warning of some kind? Why didn't my album OR my compact disc come with a friggin' lyric sheet!? I want to know the meaning behind this song!! I still listen to it fairly regularly in a vain attempt to decipher its message.. as should you.

This album has ten tracks which means I still have four tracks left to describe... but, y'know... just go buy or borrow this classic album and listen to it over and over until you agree with me that this is Boingo's defining moment... a Hall Of Fame performance that follows to perfection the rule that states "a band's second full length album is usually their best work" (see also: Jane's Addiction and Primus for great second albums)

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
8/10 For me, Nothing to Fear has always been defined (as has the band itself) by the not-as-popular songs. Sure, ``Grey Matter'' and ``Private Life'' are more prominent than other songs on the album; however, the true genius of Boingo (and Elfman) comes with songs like ``Reptiles and Samurai'' (like you, one of my all-time favorites), ``Islands,'' and ``Wild Sex...'' (killer driving beat throughout the song). I learned a couple of things from this album:
* Don't worry about understanding Boingo -- just enjoy them (see ``Reptiles...'' and ``Whole Day Off'')
* Boingo is not the typical ``new-wave, pop-oriented'' band

aske@interport.net (Mark Prindle)
You have to be a certain kind of person to enjoy Oingo Boingo. I'm not one of those persons. I find the instrumentation silly and the melodies, for the most part, forgettable. I love "Private Life" and "Running On A Treadmill," though. I give it a 5.

taosterman@yahoo.com (Rich Bunnell)
Felt that now's as good a time as any to send in some Oingo Boingo reviews (I have most of the albums, so what the hey). I agree that you have to be a certain type of person to enjoy Boingo, as they have so many things you have to look past to enjoy the music (Elfman's voice, the over-orchestration, the complex, messy melodies) but if one likes Boingo, they tend to REALLY like them.

I'm gonna have to agree with the 10 on this one. "Grey Matter" is one of their best songs, even though I had to warm up to it since it doesn't really have much of a chorus and it goes on for over 6 minutes, but it's very catchy and builds up well. "Insects" has hilarious lyrics and doesn't hang around for too long (and shows what a twisted and insane guy that Elfman was back then -- "Insects make me make me want to DANCE!"), "Whole Day Off" is sly and slinky, the title track has a killer chorus, and while IMHO "Wild Sex (In The Working Class)" sort of hangs around without doing much, it's grown on me.

By the way Mark, if you don't like this Boingo album because of the "sillyness" of the melodies and instrumentation (even so I don't see how it gets a rating of 5, 6 maybe I'd understand), later Boingo (but not TOO late) may be what you'd like more -- I'm thinking of the era around Dead Man's Party and Boi-Ngo. But it's not like Elfman's any less weird on those anyway. It's just that the first three Boingo albums sound much, much more "raw" (kind of a weird word to use with synths and horns) than any of the albums that came after them.

kardell@nantucket.net (Frank Kardell)
NOTHING TO FEAR is a wonderful album. Grim, haunting tracks(ISLANDS) intersperced with bouncy, hilarious ones(WHOLE DAY OFF) and the occasional enigmatic one here and there(REPTILES AND SAMURAI, a personal favorite, which is the OB counterpart to LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS, by a lesser band known as the Beatles). The question I ask is, HOW can a band be this perfect? ONLY A LAD was a perfect ten (IMHO), as is this, as is GFYS, as is...I could go on and on through their entire catalogue (with the exception of DATEOTT). In closing, this is a great album by the best band of all time. Intricate rhythms, great synths, "killer" guitar, popping bass lines (INSECTS and WHOLE DAY OFF are great examples), and a terrific vocalist that sings some of the best, funniest lyrics of all time. To think that they were ravaged by critics in their time makes me shake my head...and listen to the song IMPOSTER over and over again. :)

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
God, this album is grating. Don't get me wrong - I really like this band, but this is one disc that hasn't aged well. There are a heap of tracks which are completely unmemorable unless you force yourself to like them ("Islands" and "Why'd We Come"), and - sorry to say this - "Insects" is a hideous song. I've always hated it. I don't hate the idea of rapping in a new wave song, but to work, it must be a good rap and a good groove, and that piece has niether.

"Reptiles and Samaraui" and "Grey Matter" are two really great songs, despite the truly hideous production, and "Private Life" is a catchy should-have-been hit. As a naive child (which I was when I first bought it), I thought it was the best album ever. Recently, though, I see it for what it is - slightly ugly yet occasionally brilliant pop.

And, BTW, they are a wannabe-mainstream pop group. It took me a while to get over my loyalty to Elfman and admit that, but it's true. The only problem is that they're incapable of writing hit singles.

taosterman@yahoo.com (Rich Bunnell)
Ben-- I suppose Boingo were "wannabe-mainstream," but they were only incapable of writing hit singles because their music was too overarranged and weird for the mainstream market! It wasn't until they found method in the madness a few years later when they finally were able to score a couple of hits ("Weird Science" and "Dead Man's Party," of course). Regarding the album, I don't have to force myself to like "Why'd We Come" at ALL-- talk about a great melody! And come on! "Insects" freakin' rules! It's certainly messy, but those hilarious lyrics, that '70s boogie horn groove, those electronic bug synths-- excellence! The production doesn't sound horrible to me, with the exception of the fact that Danny's vocals are absolutely BURIED in "Grey Matter"...but that doesn't bother me like it would on any of the album's other songs.

I still can't understand the critical hatred of this album. A darn near-perfect collection of murky, fun, gleeful, and over-orchestrated-like-hell tunes! Go to the All-Music Guide site right now, and you'll find that the stupid morons gave it (and Good For Your Soul) 2 stars out of 5. But oh, Dead Man's Party is the wonderful '80s party album, and it gets 4.5 stars!!!!! Now let's go to the local nostalgia club and boogie down to "I Melt With You," "I Ran," and "Don't You Want Me"!!!!

dilapidatedhamper@mmcable.com (BT)
Oh man, how can you review this album without mentioning 'Why'd We Come (All This Way)'? That's gotta be one of the greatest Boingo tunes of all time... the intro is hauntingly bizarre and maybe over-theatrical and sarcastic, but it does a total 180 into a thunderous drumbeat followed by a crunching guitar part that shapes the rest of the tune. The lyrics are perfectly tuned to the melody, which is further complimented by the rest of the instrumentation. When asked which song he would most like Oingo Boingo to be remembered for, Vatos actually picked this one (Steve Bartek said 'No Spill Blood')

And the rest of the album is pretty much killer. 'Private Life' and 'Grey Matter' are of course Boingo classics, and the title track is great, too. I do think 'Islands' is a bit overdrawn, and 'Reptiles and Samurai' is thoroughly perplexing but very likable nonetheless, where as 'Whole Day Off' just doesn't make any sense. 'Running On A Treadmill' is too repetitive but dangerously catchy. I dunno if I'd give this one a 10, but it's definitely on the high end of the scale.

m.krueger@go5.de (michael krueger)
hey dilapidatedhamper@mmcable.com you«re right! why«d we come is a great song...and i think retrospective it«s the very best album of oingo boingo. i like ntf very much - i live in germany, im 36 and get in contact in 1982 with Óaint this the live" on the "urgh sampler" and then bought "only a lad". me and my friends were big oingo boingo fans in the 80«s and everybody of our friends has to hear them: -) (they were never very polpular in germany)... i was a great "devo", "xtc" "wall of voodoo" "fall" , "spizz energy" "daf", "dead kennedys", "etc- fan at that time and i really liked this fast- weird bigband sound and the strane arrangements. my first band (called atomics, i play drums) were absolutely orientiated on the "xtc" white music, drums and wires and "oingo boingo" sound. (i read in an interview that elfman was too very influenced by partridges xtc). when i first heard nothing to fear i knew this is the best band! "grey matter" lsd-trip sound, fast, your drive with high-speed through a very curious party...and the demonguide is danny elfman. the instrumentation is perfect - i always loved the bass and drum-lines and the intelligent drum-breaks of vatos (i«ve stolen the reptiles and samurai break with my old band;-). the whole percussive arrangements were new the xylophoe etc. idee was new. it was a big band and they all played only their little parts guided by elfman. (whole day off is a good example) - the greatest songs are in my opinion: "grey matter" "insects", "why«d we come", "samurai". "prvate life"...but i like the whole lp - it«s a very creative milestone in the new wave area. know i play drums in a drum«n«bass band calles "formaganda" and i looked for cool bass-lines. i thought of nice«n«sleazy "stranglers" and "grey matter" - when i heard this album again i realized the fast tempo (grey matter, why«d we come 198 bpm!) and the perfect and fast arrangements. nothing to fear is great! maybe the best of this following... like devo«s "duty now" dead kennedys "fresh fruit", xtc "white music" i think "i set myself on fire" was a great influence for elfman. the ep«s before were a little bit too raw and the lps after that lost the oingo boingo special character and they get commercial and a little bit boring. here my comments of the other ones 1st oingo boingo ep - thats a nice one - i love "i«m so bad" - has the nothing to fear touch only a lad a little bit overproduces and elfmans jodel«s too much. very good: only a lad, nasty habits. capitalism so-lo---oaahgh this is a bad lp - only everybody needs it is ok. he tried to sing like freddy mercury (wŸrg!) good for your soul - the 2nd place - good songs - who do you want to be, no spill blood, cry of the vatos, dead man's party - they lost their weird character and become a pop band...sniff ok dead mans party is ok ...but the rest. like boingo and all the other stuff - oingo boingo was great between 1982 and 1983 - after that period they get boring and became a normal popband.

My Ratings (0= worse 10= excellent) Forbidden Zone 6 - Oingo Boingo ep 8 - Only A Lad 7 - Nothing To Fear 10+++ - Good For Your Soul 9 - Danny Elfman So-Lo 3 - Dead Man's Party 4 - BOI-NGO 3 - Boingo Alive 3 - Dark at the End of the Tunnel 4 - Boingo 7

Damned good follow-up to Nothing to Fear. It almost forced me to flip a coin for which release gets the 10. It starts off in a similar fashion as its predecessor, with an anthemic tune against apathetic conformity. Last time it was 'Grey Matter' informing listeners to use their noodles or the powers that be will treat them like numbers to be crunched into a demographic. This time Danny asks the question 'Who Do You Want to Be?' in his usual snide yet serious manner: "Would you rather push the buttons / and be feared by all humanity / or perhaps you'd like to be a bum / do you want to be stupid, just like me?!"

The title track is a mellow number with this advice about experiencing the extreme emotions, inspirations, and hallucinations in life: "Just once or twice / It's good for your soul / If you don't stop / You lose control". What's this... wisdom? a song espousing moderation from the same guy who wrote "There's nothing wrong with capitalism" (the only economic system which doesn't encourage moderation) just two albums ago? My my... what a novel idea. 'No Spill Blood,' one of the many standouts on this record, is an outright homage to The Island of Dr. Moreau. The animal sounds on this track are a close second to the bug noises of 'Insects' in the category of coolest, most appropriate-ist, synthesizer sounds put down on wax. 'Sweat' is a tour de force track about those tense moments in life that make us moister than usual.

The song most people have heard from this album is 'Nothing Bad Ever Happens'. I recall all the trendy new wave stations added it to their rotation for awhile and MTV even played the video for this tune once or twice. The anti-fascist 'Wake Up (It's 1984)' was written a few years into Reagan's first term and indicates Elfman's first major lyrical step away from the right-wing altruisms put forth on Only A Lad. 'Dead Or Alive' is a frantic, paranoid tune that the band used to open their live shows with.

The synthesizer seems to play a more prominent role on Good For Your Soul than on any of the previous Boingo releases. Or perhaps the inclusion of the synthetic moments is somehow more inspired making this worth mentioning... I already talked about the synth in 'No Spill Blood' but check out the twinkling cascade sound effect that is woven into the fast paced 'Dead Or Alive'... or 'Cry of the Vatos' which is purely percussion, horns, programming and evil back-masking (some Boingo bootlegs circulate a version of this track played forward where you can distinctly hear messages of goodness and purity). The whistles heard throughout 'Fill the Void' sound kinda like the end of a labor shift in the Caribbean... The keyboards in 'Pictures of You' lend an eerie feeling to an already spooky tune about lust and deception and in 'Little Guns' the synthesizer (here working closely with a guitar and horn section exchanging tag team licks and riffs) adds a somewhat psychedelic feeling to a steady militaristic drum beat.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
10/10 By far the edgiest Boingo offering, GFYS offers all sides of Boingo. Songs like ``Fill the Void'' and ``Pictures of You'' show the mystical, dark side of Boingo that really doesn't come through in the previous albums (except perhaps with ``Islands''). ``Sweat'' and ``Who Do You Want To Be'' hearken back to earlier Boingo (though not Mystic Knights) with fast and fun guitar-and-drum based...what? Punk? Rock? Punk rock? Every song builds on the last to create what is, IMHO, the perfect Boingo experience, hands down.

robertk@jove.acs.unt.edu (Robert Linus Koehl)
"What is the law? . . . NO SPILL BLOOD! . . . Who makes the rules? . . . SOMEONE ELSE!" With that classic call and response chorus, Oingo Boingo made their mark as one of the most interesting bands in history. Lyrics as dark as hell itself with music as bouncy and happy as anything you'd expect from the guy who scored Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
The best songs are an improvement over the best songs of Nothing To Fear, but unlike Nothing To Fear, it actually has a couple of unmemorable songs ("Cry Of The Vatos" is a good idea but honestly isn't very good, and "Fill The Void" is pretty dopey and annoys me at times), and it doesn't feel as much like an album as opposed to a bunch of songs--you know, like the White Album after Sgt. Pepper. HOWEVER! "No Spill Blood" is utterly awesome, with great vocals from Danny("All you get is ridicule, laughter, and a trip to the house of PAIN!"), "Who Do You Want To Be" is fast and furious, "Nothing Bad Ever Happens" may be the most un-subtle thing Elfman has ever written, but the lyrics are still funny and the song is really catchy, and the title track, while not exactly "mellow" has good synth effects. "Wake Up (It's 1984)" and "Pictures Of You" are other highlights. "Little Guns" though doesn't do a good job in ending the album--but honestly, Boingo never made a truly memorable album closer until "Change," which was a CAREER closer as well. I agree with Peter on the fact that the album shows all sides of Boingo, but it's not the VERY best in my opinion. 8/10

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
This is my favourite of their early works. It's got a heap of catchy numbers, and the production, for once, doesn't make the songs grow old almost immediatly. I hate "Dead Or Alive" with a passion, but "Sweat" is a good, psychadelic rocker, and the title track is great, groovy pop.

And "Fill The Void" is good. I reccomend this album to people who want to buy something but aren't sure what - it's great to listen to at least a couple times, and will probably fool you into thinking that the band's other albums are as good.

As for you drop-dead Boingo fans who worship this early stuff - I used to be like you. I felt that Elfman was an underrated genius, with an original writing style all of his own. Then I realized that there are dozens of better groups out there (Talking Heads, XTC, Elvis Costello, REM, early David Bowie, Dexy's Midnight Runners) who are much more creative, and - best of all - you don't have to force yourself to like!

drce88@mcn.org (Christoph Engle)
Are you sure No Spill Blood was inspired by the Island of Dr. Moreau? I always thought it was a take off of Animal Farm. "Walk on two legs, not on four." Wake Up it's 1984, on the same album, continues the George Orwell theme. Just a thought. CE

mattro@raptorial.com (Mattro)
The more I think about it... "No Spill Blood" just may be about both Island of Dr. Moreau and Animal Farm. The 'What is the law?' and 'House of Pain' stuff is from Moreau while, as Christoph mentioned, certain lyrics seem more specific to Farm.

ChronosNorton@aol.com (Kilroy Blues)
This album pretty much kicks ass. All of the songs are memorable on it (except maybe Dead Or Alive) and a great many of them are hummable as hell. I love this album and this is what Boingo should be remembered for--not oversynthesized (please excuse the analogy) crap like Weird Science (possibly the only Boingo song I dislike). I was listening to it and I'm not sure if their is a harmonica part in one of the songs. it says that there is a harmonica player on the Yahoo! guide to this album. I was just wondering

jaws722@yahoo.com (darren armistead)
This album has some songs that are obviously dated but songs like No Spill Blood to me made this my favorate album overall.I cannot listen to 1984 and connect like i did in when i first became an Oingo Boingo fan.Nothing Bad Ever Happens and Who Do You Want To Be are just too new wave.I don`t find this album to have songs that are inconguent though and really find this to be my favorite album.Little Guns is a cool little closer and Dead or Alive, Sweat, and Fill The Void are interesting but i am so subjective about this album and have listen to it so much that i need to give it about a three month vacation.Who Do You Want To Be was my favorite song forever but i`ve listened to it way too much...lol...i give Good For Your Soul the album a 10 !!!!!!!!!!!!! and the title song is also........

I'm not exactly sure why the first release Boingo puts out on it's new label, MCA, is disguised as an Elfman solo project. Perhaps doing a solo record was a contract stipulation and Danny just wanted to get this one out of the way up front. Or maybe he had a trunk full of 'not quite Boingo' tunes which he felt the public would enjoy.

Whatever the reason, the nine tracks on this record are played by the same exact band that brought you the previous Boingo albums and they're written by Elfman... also like the previous releases. In other words... this isn't any more or less solo than the previous Boingo albums. At least two of the tunes contained on So-Lo ('Gratitude' and 'It Only Makes Me Laugh') worked their way into Boingo's live repertoire and made it on to Boingo Alive and other 'best of...' compilations.

Rumor has it, there were Boingo members who didn't want these songs categorized under 'Boingo'... perhaps they were right to request this. Next to Dark at the End of the Tunnel, this is my least favorite Boingo release. The music sounds as if it were played by contracted scab musicians reading off music stands during some major entertainment industry strike. There's just no soul emanating from most of these tracks... it's all precision and experimentation. Very cold.

So-Lo earns a five because, despite what I just said, 'Gratitude,' 'Lightning' and 'It Only Makes Me Laugh' are excellent tracks that, in my mind, make up for the weak ones. This disc will probably appeal only to die-hard Boingo fans who force themselves to like it via repeated listenings.

Reader Comments

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
I actually like this album. There's some filler ("Sucker For Mystery" goes on for too long, and "Tough As Nails" is pretty dumb) but I really like the most of the other numbers. "Gratitude" is a great dance tune, "Only Makes Me Laugh" is fun ska-pop, and "Lightning" is a tremendously enjoyable song, for whatever reason. Nobody seems to like the ballads "Go Away" and "The Last Time," but I find them quite nice. I'd give this album at least a six, possibly a low seven.

bearlives@hotmail.com (Bear K)
I've been having a blast reading your interactive reviews, But after reading the review for So-lo, I had to comment. I CANT BELIEVE anybody would rate the BOI-NGO album higher than So-Lo, But perhaps I'm just partial to the band's older (Pre-Dead Mans Party) catalog.
So-Lo is a great album with Elfman really working overtime on his dark & diverse lyrical vision. The album is far from "cold", with good interaction between the instruments and Steve Bartek really shines on this work. His guitar work runs the gamut from eclectic to rock to Funk to Jazzy, and his riffs on this album are quite inventive & interesting. Also, Steve showed great restraint in making sure his parts weren't overdone, and it is this sparseness that makes his contributions so eagerly anticipated by the listener.
I cant really think of a bad tune on the album. "Gratitude" & "It Only Makes Me Laugh" would be right at home on Good for Your Soul or Dead Mans Party. "Go Away" & "The Last Time" are really excellent ballads, and perhaps Dannys first foray into this area. "Cool City" & "Sucker for Mystery" could possibly be inspired by The old Detective magazines of the 50s/60s. The ending to "Cool City" should be enough in itself to earn a thumbs up as a cool tune.
With the exception of "Gratitude", The last three songs of So-Lo are perhaps the most exciting of all. While Elfman's words take aim at the All-American He-Man Persona, the different musical parts of "Tough as Nails" are really quite catchy, Particularly the Hook-y "He's such a Live Wire" part. "Lightning" starts out as a light, bouncy tune with a nice vocorder synthesizer effect, But changes in typical Oingo Boingo Fashion to a more menacing, slightly psychotic theme at the end of the chorus before flowing into some vintage OB instrumentation.
My personal favorite of the album is "Everybody Needs". Before the age of CDs, I couldn't wait to get to the end of the album to get to this gem, But There was no way I was going to skip the rest of this vintage album just to get to it. No, this was the climax, the pinnacle at the end of the journey and could only be appreciated by taking the full route. The song sets up a nice groove countered by a sporadic, slightly chaotic guitar rhythm
. The song then builds up nicely to the chorus payoff with the perfect synthesizer line, pulled from somewhere out there in the twilight zone (or should I say Forbidden Zone). Just like the rest of the song, It is one of many parts that seem to be the perfect choice for this tune. And there was always something strangely satisfying about the way Danny would say the line "I know what's on her mind, I know what's on her mind". As far as this album, "Everybody needs" it especially any fans of the classic Oingo Boingo sound. No its not a solo album, just vintage Boingo. As for the website review, I challenge anyone to listen to So-Lo and BOI-NGO back to back a couple of times, and then decide which album is more sterile, with less feeling.
The ratings should be reversed, A 9 for So-Lo and a 6 or 7 for BOI-NGO. The Mystic Bear of the Oingo Boingo has spoken.

lotus@surfbest.net (Michael A. Adashefski)
A little enlightenment: This album was released as an Elfman solo project because the songs were, in his opinion, not the type of music that was fitting the same musical mold as Boingo was. Boingo did perform "Only Makes Me Laugh" and "Gratitude" in concert for awhile and at the Farewell gig but the rest of the songs were never done live to my knowledge. It's like Boingo pretending not to be Boingo.

For some reason it is with this release that Oingo Boingo gained much of its popularity. It spawned three singles and one of them, 'Weird Science' was the theme song to a popular teen movie of the same name. The other two singles, 'Just Another Day' and 'Stay' were average radio-friendly Boingo tunes... not bad but not the strongest tracks on the album by any stretch of the imagination.

The videos for the three singles from Dead Man's Party were just plain lame. I could never understand it... Boingo shows were always so visual... with smoke, cool lighting, animations projected behind the stage... you name it. Somehow Boingo was never able to translate this level of energy and spectacle into a video. Had this band released 'No One Lives Forever' or 'Dead Man's Party' as videos, all of their albums would be gold by now thanks to the trickle down theory that states: Fans who really really like one album from a band are very likely to run out and purchase much of their catalog. Had Boingo made videos for these two songs... videos with animations at least as cool as the ones they included in their live shows and with storylines at least as imaginative as the suggestive artwork on their album covers and concert shirts.... well let's just say Oingo Boingo would have been three years ahead of the alternative music thing and we'd all be worshipping Danny Elfman for inventing the concept instead of Perry Farrell. Instead, Dead Man's Party was marketed as another '80s new wavy pop album and the best material from it never received its 15 minutes of fame. Ah, what could have been?

But Dead Man's Party is a great album that deserves all eight of its rating points. There are no bad songs on this disc, only cool ones and very cool ones with some amazing musical stuff happening in them.

The title track is an intricately woven and rhythmically captivating tune with a bassline that is spooky, yet funky. Steve Bartek's guitar frolics all over the spectrum and has a somewhat wild west, Ennio Morricone thing going for it while the horns fade in and out like ghostly apparitions. Which fits perfectly with the words you hear: "I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go / Walking with a dead man over my shoulder / Waiting for an invitation to arrive / going to a party where no one's still alive."

On 'Heard Somebody Cry,' another song with something haunting going on, Danny Elfman's lyrics are dark and visual. Completely unrelated phrases are uttered side by side to create entirely new meanings. This, my friends, is what is often referred to as poetry: "A choir with a single voice / A picnic on a cliff / Antenna like an insect / To pick up all your thoughts."

'No One Lives Forever' is a possessed little number with international flavorings added. The lyrics remind us that no matter how smart we may think we are... we all meet the Grim Reaper some day. But... there's absolutely nothing we can do about it so we better have fun while we're alive! Musically the song has a consistent bounce running through it that makes me want to try that stereotypical Russian dance (the one where you alternately kick out your legs from a sitting position... what the Hell is that called?). There is also an Eastern mystic guitar thing thrown in towards the end for good measure. A very lively and life-affirming song this is.

On "Fool's Paradise" the guitars are screeching and soaring while the horns punctuate the lines of each lyrical verse. Here Elfman is questioning notions of utopia: "Now that we've found this precious place / How do we keep from going crazy, now?"

Good question. Great album.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
6/10 Perhaps it is because this album contains *so*many* overplayed songs (compared to other albums) that I tend to dislike it. ``Dead Man's Party'' is still a great song, just not every afternoon on the ``Flashback Cafe'' sandwiched between Belinda Carlisle and Starship, you know? ``Just Another Day'' is simply too long for me; again, not that it's a horrible song. Other tracks are simply not memorable: ``Help Me'' is too...``hairdo-y''...while ``Same Man I Was Before'' is the kind of song a record exec might call a ``catchy little ditty,'' hardly what Boingo is known for. The salvage songs for DMP are ``Heard Somebody Cry,'' ``No One Lives Forever,'' and ``Stay.'' Don't even get me started on ``Weird Science''...

robertk@jove.acs.unt.edu (Robert Linus Koehl)
This guy cant be serious. This album was to Boingo what Darkside was to Pink Floyd. THIS album should have gotten a ten. The title track and "No One Lives Forever" are among the bands finest moments. "Wierd Science" is great. Dont ever let anyone tell you otherwise. That "why don't people understand . . . " acapella line is unforgettable.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
Eh, it's solid, I'll give it that -- the first 5 songs on the album, had they been released on an EP, would've made up Boingo's strongest collection ever--"No One Lives Forever" is good in particular, and "Heard Somebody Cry" has a catchy chorus. Everyone already knows the title track by now, but it's still a phenomenal song. However, the second half of the album can't even hope to live up to it, containing mindless pop like "Same Man I Was Before," "Help Me," and though I hate to admit it, "Weird Science," even though it's very, VERY catchy. Also I should note that "Just Another Day" probably marked the point where Elfman's songwriting skills became completely refined. 7.5/10

LadyBarclay@hotmail.com
Hi! Was taking a look at your web site (enjoyed your personal exp. with their concerts, as I've never been to *any* concert of theirs), and I don't know if this is too small to be included, or too obvious, but on "Dead Man's Party" just before the title track begins, a voice (I presume Elfman's) says, "Yeah, yeah, let him in." My friend caught it, and we had to turn up the volume to hear it clearly. Like your page.

pataloca0204@hotmail.com (Emily Aguila)
Dead Man's Party is definitely one of the better Boingo albums. Probably the best one out there. Agreeing with everyone else, "Weird Science" is kinda... meh, but still catchy (the shortened version is better, if you don't think you can sit through 6 minutes of it), and "Same Man I Was Before" is kinda early-90's pop, but they're still good songs. As for the rest of the album, pure genius. "Just Another Day" is my favorite song on the album, "Nobody Lives Forever" is so damn catchy, I love it!

Now we come to Boingo's jazziest release. On this album Elfman is stretching his musical prowess out in many different directions yet binding them together as only he can. This is a very richly textured collection of tunes. This is also the only Boingo release with a picture of the band on the front cover (But only half of Elfman's face is visible).

New sounds on BOI-NGO include non-synth piano ('Home Again'), a capella vocals, snapping and hand claps ('Where Do All My Friends Go), and there's a P-Funk kinda vibe running through 'Elevator Man'.

'New Generation' is a socio-political number that takes charismatic leaders to task much the same way 'Grey Matter' took on corporate media. And, as he proved years prior to this on the song 'Goodbye, Goodbye,' Elfman can rap! Word, dude. Psycho guitars.

As with most albums, there are a couple throw away tunes. 'We Close Our Eyes' is a very optimistic ditty about growing old, dreaming and falling in love. It's not a bad tune if this is what you're into. 'Not My Slave' sounds very much like a song that comes from a movie with Melanie Griffith in it. And you know what? It is! 'My Life' is an introspective little number that is mellow, optimistic and cutesy... but I like it anyway!

All said this is a cool album and Elfman's musical arrangement is pure inspired craftsmanship. I cannot believe there isn't a Danny Elfman postage stamp yet.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
7/10 Starts off with another song that just went haywire and lasted a little too long (``Home Again''). The preachiness of ``New Generation'' never did much for me like ``Grey Matter'' did. ``My Life'' is tolerable. The rest is top notch. My favorite from this album has always been ``Pain'' for reasons unknown. The last great album from Boingo for *WAY*TOO*LONG*!

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
The "mindless commercial pop" album, but it's better than Dead Man's Party, as it only has ONE weak point, "My Life," with it's irritating Elfman falsetto. "Where Do All My Friends Go" is also about as typical as Boingo has ever gotten. The rest of the album rules, however--"Home Again," while as Peter says goes slightly overboard, is one of their most developed and well-made songs ever, and while "We Close Our Eyes" has that annoying "And We Danced" accordian sound in the beginning, it's a better song than I initially thought it was. "New Generation" grew on me even with it's slightly weak chorus, "Elevator Man" is a funk heaven, and "Pain" has an awesome thudding synth line going on throughout the entire song. No one's mentioned "Outrageous," but that's probably because while it's a good song, it's not as noteworthy as the rest. Generic but extremely likable. By the way Mattro, Elfman rapped before this album ("No One Lives Forever") and hand-clapping was used on earlier albums as well ("Wake Up (It's 1984)," "Same Man I Was Before"). 8/10

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
Ick. The early stuff was good, the later stuff was good - do we really need to sit through an album of this awful, watered down crap? "Home Again" is awesome, "Elevator Man" is the ultimate funker, and "We Close Our Eyes" is gorgeous (though it's kind of hard to tell from the lousy production), but the rest is just a bunch of mid-tempo 80's dreck without a single solid melody. Except for "My Life," which is a possible fourth good song, and the catchy-but-so-obnoxious "Not My Slave."

I can't see how you can praise the "musical craftmanship" on this record - compared to the first three, the songs are a huge step down musically, even from the already-simplified Dead Man's Party. I give the album a five.

geech@teleport.com (Christopher Dorr)
?!?!?!???? Um, howzabout 5. There are some very good songs, Home Again, Elevator Man, Outrageous, & My Life. However, We Close Our Eyes & Pain illustrate the over production the mars this LP. This tour did mark the beginning of my round of Boingo live shows, though. Drove down to Boston and Connecticut from Maine and got to hang with the band! Bliss!!!

ChronosNorton@aol.com (Kilroy Blues)
I would have to rate Boi-ngo an 8. Most of the songs are good, but there are a few I just can't stand. Picked up for $3 at a local record store, new on CD. Worth more than what I payed for it. I still maintain that I had heard "Home Again" and "Elevator Man" before I even got into Boingo...maybe around '88 or so. I just didn't remember them. All in all, Boi-ngo is pretty good stuff.

pataloca0204@hotmail.com (Emily Aguila)
I agree, this is a 8/10. It's a great album, but something is still kind ofÊoff. But, compensating for that off-ness with songs like "My Life", "Home Again" and "Pain" is perfectly fine in my book.

Live without an audience. This release, subtitled "A Celebration of a Decade," is two discs worth of Boingo's best tunes re-recorded live on a soundstage, with a few previously unreleased tracks worked in for good measure. There is no remixing here... Boingo Alive is an almost perfect recording of a private jam session.

Some of the tunes actually sound better recorded live like this.... 'Wild Sex (in the working class)' and 'Grey Matter' come to mind.

Here and there select songs are reworked. 'Dead Man's Party' is given a new intro, as is 'Wild Sex'. 'No Spill Blood' is over tinkered with and loses nearly all of the impact contained in the original studio version. Alive's version of 'Private Life' has been gussied up with acoustic guitar and Spanish horns... stripping away any hint of menace.

However, the guys sound like they are having a blast playing 'Violent Love,' 'No One Lives Forever,' 'On the Outside' and 'Capitalism'. Go figure.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
6/10 Love the new versions of ``Violent Love'' and ``Wild Sex.'' Lots of the other stuff wasn't really necessary, though it *is* nice to have lots of songs in one place.

geech@teleport.com (Christopher Dorr)
Though I was pushing for a true double-live album (told Danny in the aforementioned Connecticut parking lot that that's what we all wanted, '87 mind you, and he just laughed heartily and said: "We have to sell ALOT more records."), this pretty much did the trick. If for nothing else than Cinderella Undercover, Winning Side, & Country Sweat, this album deserves a 7.

A 'best of..' release in the traditional sense. This one draws tracks from the first three full-length A&M releases only.

Here's what is included on this collection: 'Little Girls' 'Private Life' 'On the Outside' 'Nasty Habits' 'Grey Matter' 'Only A Lad' 'Wake Up (It's 1984)' 'Insects' 'Whole Day Off' 'Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself)' 'Nothing Bad Ever Happens' and 'Who Do You Want to Be'.

These are all great tunes, however, if you are intent on buying only ONE Boingo disc in your lifetime, don't make it this one, or ANY of Boingo's 'best of...' releases for that matter. Buy Nothing to Fear and listen to it in its entirety over and over. Then I'll bet ya can't stop at one...

(If video is your thing, Skeletons in the Closet is also an out-of-print video which clearly demonstrates why Oingo Boingo never made it big on MTV... for all of their live energy and mastery of studio recording, they couldn't put an interesting video together if their livelihood depended upon it. Fortunately it didn't.)

Reader Comments

geech@teleport.com (Christopher Dorr)
Ummm...how can you give a Best of compilation more stars than Only a Lad???

Most savvy Boingo fans waited three years for this record to come out. Most, like me, scratched their head upon listening to it.

Aside from three mildly energetic tunes 'When the Lights Go Out,' 'Flesh 'N Blood,' and 'Glory Be'... the eleven songs on this release are just plain boring. When the musical arrangements aren't stifled they sound rushed and contrived. The slow fade out to end the song, a lazy pop convention, is over-used here. Before this, Boingo always new how to end a tune and used the slow fade sparingly.

Elfman's lyrics are normally dark, poetic and socially poignant with wonderful imagery for the listener to latch on to. Here on Dark, the words are as optimistically mundane as Bobby McFerrin's 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. Elfman makes numerous references to some new found spirituality or rebirth. Dark is an album FULL of cheesy, sentimental pop songs whereas previous Boingo albums only had a couple tracks like this or avoided such tunes entirely.

I've played every other Boingo disc at least 100 times a piece. In comparison, I've only listened to Dark at the End of the Tunnel about ten times. I tried to let it grow on me but instead of me warming up to it, I stopped listening to all previous Boingo releases. I promptly shelved this disc in 1990 and haven't heard it much since.

Incidentally, none of the songs on Dark made it on to Boingo's Farewell double concert album of 1995. I interpret this to mean there is an acknowledgment within the band itself that this is their weakest material.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
2/10 I'd love to give extensive thoughts on this one but, like you, I've listened to it ten times (*MAYBE*). ``Out of Control,'' though definitely radio pop, sticks out as mildly listenable, and that's about it.

robertk@jove.acs.unt.edu (Robert Linus Koehl)
YOU MUST BE JOKING! This album is the only one they ever did to rival Dead Mans Party. In fact, of all my Boingo cds, this one probably gets played the most. It's worth a nine, if only for the song "When the Lights Go Out," possible the best song they ever did.

kenyon@mail.netnitco.net
I personally love this CD. I'm not too familiar with the rest of their stuff, as this is the only one I have of them (I think) but it's great! Try To Believe is a great song (mainstream, yes, but good), and Is This is one of my favorite songs ever. This is what I listen to when I'm cleaning the house. :)

kardell@nantucket.net
What I've discovered through numerous travels through the land of the internet is that there's a small subdivision of Oingo Boingo fans that I like to call "DARKIES." They are not unlike the "FLOODIES" of the They Might Be Giants fanbase...they own DARK AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL and very few of the other Boingo catalogue. And they love it. WHY?!?! DARK is slow and sometimes even a labor to get through. I listen to at least one full Boingo album every day...but I think I've only listened to DARK at selected times, maybe once or twice through in its entirety. After the wonderful turning points of DEAD MAN'S PARTY and BOI-NGO, this album appeared...but it wasn't really needed. In many ways, however, their next album, BOINGO, made up for any dissapointment garnered from this release.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
I borrowed this from the library a few weeks ago, and I seriously doubt that I'll ever actually buy it, despite the fact that it can be found easily for $5 in new condition. There's nothing WRONG with any of the songs–but where's the creativity?!? The songs seem more like adult contemporary pop than the Boingo everyone was used to by that point–"Out Of Control" and "Flesh N' Blood" may sound like passable songs if performed by another group, but done by Boingo they merely sound contrived and uncreative, with only Elfman's voice left to make them slightly seem like older work. You'll be sitting through "Long Breakdown" thinking "Hmm, this sounds good!" but when you realize that this is the same band that did "Who Do You Want To Be" and "Grey Matter" you'll likely pry open the CD player and consider snapping the stupid disc in half, disgusted at what a contrived melody it is. And yes, the fade-out is utilized way too much–a Boingo song simply CAN'T fade out–it needs to end ABRUPTLY! "When The Lights Go Out" and "Skin" are both good songs (and surprise surprise, they're the opening tracks) but despite the cheesy likeability of it all it's still formulaic as all hell and doesn't seem so much like Boingo, but a shadow of Boingo's former self. And then of course the NEXT album sounds more like a shadow of annoying throwback psychedelic bands, but at least it's INTERESTING! As for this album, perfectly average, and to Elfman and the boys that's an insult. 5/10

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
I've always felt that Dark At The End Of The Tunnel was way underrated. It's not "adult contemporary," at least according to my defenition - it's too dark, and it's got a couple of truly swell tunes on there. "When The Lights Go Out" is amazing, and "Skin" is truly dark yet poppy listen. I can see how "Out Of Control" is generic, but I really like it! Good melody, if not for the cornball lyrics. "Is This?" is pretty, and "Right To Know" is cool - reminds me of the BeeGees - and "Try To Believe was my favourite song for a long time - until I realized its cheeziness. Still good, though.

The low points are "Flesh & Blood," which I've always hated, and the boring songs like "Dream Somehow" and "Glory Be." However, I like all of the other songs, so this gets a good score for me. A high seven.

geech@teleport.com (Christopher Dorr)
Definitely agree with you on this, though I think When the Lights Go Out is fantastic even if the lyrics are a bit obvious. Also, Long Breakdown is a criminally underrated Boingo song.

afterspencer@juno.com (Spencer G Warner)
Dark is my second favorite of the OB albums, following Farewell very close. As I listen more and more to Dark I keep trying to figure out what Elfman was trying to say. That is one of the joys of Dark. Right to Know as far as I can tell is about the JFK assassination. Try To Believe has some great sounds, particularly the end with Danny singing to a relatively quiet accordion. Is this is one of my top three favorite Boingo songs, because it questions the very existence of reality and explains how powerless humans are to change things around them.

ChronosNorton@aol.com (Kilroy Blues)
Dark is a damn good album, though it may not be as good as some of Boingo's earlier stuff. If u actually give it a good listen, you'll find that Danny's trying to make a point and that the songs are creative in their own way. Hell, if it weren't for track 6 (Flesh n Blood, courtesy of the GB 2 soundtrack, first album i ever owned), i wouldn't even be into Boingo. So this album has more meaning for me than it would to some others. I recently purchased it for $5 and couldn't be happier. Completes my Boingo Collection nicely. 7/10

ljmusecalliopeia@yahoo.com (The Fair-Voiced Grace)
I'm sorry, but I have to say that... well... I'm not sure that you "get" this album. This album is about addiction, it's about self-destruction.Ê It's something that *I* picked up immediately upon listening to it, the very first time.Ê Of course, I know a few things about self-destruction... Out of Control, for example, is about... well... suicide.Ê Or, at least, that's how I see it.Ê I'm sure that it could be said to be about drug addiction and the spiral down, as well. And, hello! "Right to Know"?Ê "No-one knows what's on his mind except him and his monkey"?!?!Ê "You've got a right to know that there's something more to see than a big bunch of flowers in a cemetery... Come on and give your testimony"?Ê Clearly references to a) addiction, b) the eventual loss of health, freedom, and life that comes from addiction, and c) recovery! Honestly, I'm a newcomer to Boingo, and I regret it.Ê I've almost never dated a guy who wasn't totally enthralled with them, and yet... I was 32 before I "found" them.Ê I always felt that they were... I don't know how to put it. Dark, yes; funny, yes; haunting, yes... but there was no connection between what was going into my ears and my brain, not *really*, and there was definitely no communication between my brain and my heart about Boingo's songs.Ê I suspect that a lot of that had to do with some of the songs I heard too many times when I was dating these guys that... just... didn't appeal.Ê "Little Girls", for example.Ê I didn't appreciate the humor, the irony.Ê As someone who had been "too little, too little, too little", it bothered me.Ê Now that I'm older, and wiser, and been through a lot of therapy ;), I know that it's not what I was afraid it was. I go by the handle "Musecalliopeia" because there are times in my life when the only thing that can help is music.Ê Music can soothe my soul in ways that nothing, *NOTHING* else can.Ê And, while I regret that I didn't find Boingo earlier, couldn't "hear" them until recently, I'm glad that I found Danny Elfman when I did, because I needed his music, his voice, his words to soothe my soul, to get me past my own dark at the end of the tunnel.

Yet another 'best of..' compilation, this one drawing from the entire Boingo catalog before it. Half of the tunes are the Boingo Alive sound stage versions... which leads me to ask... why bother? I would much rather have had the original studio versions of these songs and perhaps one or two hard-to-find tracks thrown in as a bonus. This disc makes Boingo sound boring... and they're not!

Reader Comments

robertk@jove.acs.unt.edu (Robert Linus Koehl)
This was actually the first Boingo album I bought and listened to. And I must disagree again with the above review. If you only buy one Boingo CD, GET THIS ONE! It's got all the hits. It's got the live "Dead Man's Party" and "No One Lives Forever," along with "When the Lights Go Out," "Gratitude," "Only a Lad," "Skin," "Stay," "No Spill Blood," "Wierd Science," and "Wild Sex in the Working Class." What's there not to like about this release?!?!?!? I can't believe anyone would actually think this makes Boingo sound boring. This album made me a Boingo fan for life. If you only get one Boingo album, get this one!

The 'Oingo' is dropped (somewhat by accident, rumor has it) and now the band is just Boingo, the moniker members had been referring to the band as for years anyway. A new guitarist, Warren Fitzgerald (of L.A. group The Vandals), joins the band to add a heavier rock sound. The horn section, though very present on the album, would not join the rest of the guys on Boingo's 1994 tour.

The sound on Boingo is a bit different, but still unmistakably Elfman. This is Boingo's most psychedelic release with very strong '60s influences. In fact, if not for the excellent recording quality, this album would not be out of place circulating in the year 1967. There are additional musicians performing here including an orchestra on many tracks. This is a 73 minute album with 11 songs, seven of which are five minutes or longer (and the cassette version has an additional track that the cd doesn't have).

The opening track, 'Insanity,' spotlights the real disease that is plaguing humanity: "Here it comes just like a storm / Bathe in it and be reborn / Time to let the world know / Welcome madness, say hello..." It is an intense tune that starts out with a children's chorus (that goes on just a little bit too long) and ends menacingly: "I'd love to see you dead..."

'Hey' is a "those damned kids today" number that really has nothing to say... but that's the whole point. 'Pedestrian Wolves' is a funky tune that sorta bounces all over the place and has the album's most intriguing vocal interplay. The anti-Gulf War song, 'War Again,' will seem contrived to many... but just listen to it the next time the USA is bombing the shit out of some unfortunate nation. It'll become real relevant real quick. In peace time however, the chorus is still poignant and effective.

Boingo performs an excellent cover of the Beatles' 'I Am the Walrus'. There aren't many bands who could pull this tune off properly, what with the horns and all (the Oasis versions I've heard kinda suck). 'Change' is a 16 minute opus that unashamedly borrows every psychedelic convention contained on albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, etc.... the backmasking, the dinner party laughter, mumbling interwoven conversation, orchestral tuning and orchestral climax... it's all here and it's put to good use in an enjoyable number about change, or lack thereof.

The remaining tracks are of the mellow variety. 'Mary' is a harmless reinterpretation of the content in McCartney's 'She's Leaving Home.' 'Tender Lumplings' is a wee cameo of a number that will remind true Boingo fans of the band's cartoony Forbidden Zone beginnings. 'Can't See (Useless)' is kinda... useless.

All in all, Boingo was a welcome return to the band's old spirit of inventiveness, commentary, and down home excellent Elfman tunage.

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
?/10 I honestly gave up on new Boingo after Dark... so I can't say that I've listened to this one much. ''Insanity'' was, at first listen, *too*much* Elfman (can anyone else hear Batman in the opening?!). ''Change'' was just too much trouble to bother with listening. And so on. However, hearing the songs on the Farewell album made me perk up once again, so I'll have to try Boingo again in the near future. (One thing: I agree wholeheartedly WRT ''I Am the Walrus''; one of the finest covers ever!)

MARIANNET2@prodigy.net (Marianne D. Thomson)
I stumbled onto Boingo by buying their CD Boingo at the closing of Montgomery Ward for approx. .45 cents. I loved it!!! I'd heard their name, but wasn't sure what they sounded like. I'll continue reviewing this page and see other CD's of theirs I'd like to explore.

robertk@jove.acs.unt.edu (Robert Linus Koehl)
New name, new sound, new members, and enough angst to make the Sex Pistols jealous. "Insanity" shows us all that Danny Elfman is probably the biggest fan of the religious right since . . . oh . . . Gene Simmons of Kiss . . . or maybe Trent Reznor of NIN. "War Again" rocks! "I am the Walrus" is as good as the original.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
Oooooookay. A bunch of the songs are over 6 minutes long, and exactly ONE of those said songs ("Insanity") merits that length. The said song is the DEFINITIVE Boingo song -- it's like someone sat Elfman down and said "Final Exam: Write the definitive Boingo song, a song that embodies everyting that has ever been good about Boingo.", and Elfman wrote this an 8-minute opus of...well...insanity. Yes, the intro sounds like Batman, but it works well in the context of the song, with it's many tribal drums and children's choruses and the insane like.

Unfortunately, on all of the rest of the album tracks on the first half, Elfman decided that he wanted to sing like a wannabe British Invasion singer, which he can't, and the songs such as "Hey!"(one of the worst Boingo songs, EVER, it just goes on for 8 minutes being annoying and crappy and wannabeish) "Mary," and "Pedestrian Wolves" just come off as..well...annoying, and un-Boingo-ish. "Change" is decent, though it doesn't quite deserve it's 16-minute length. The album does have some very good songs besides "Insanity," though, including "War Again," the ONLY other song on the album where Elfman sings like...well, Elfman. The cover of "I Am The Walrus" is decent, though it throws the slyness of the original out the window for bombastic horns and snide vocals. "Spider" is pretty good, though not Boingo-ish. I also LOVE "Tender Lumplings" near the end of the album. It's HILARIOUS! "Insanity" is worth 2 points to me, while the other 4 great songs are 1 point each (and "Tender Lumplings" half a point, it being so short and all), so that gives it a 6.5/10.

aderack@hotmail.com
Again, allow a band to change -- why on earth would you want them to sound the same for seventeen years? Were you brought up listening to the Rolling Stones or something? And do you really think they want to deal with the same flavor of material for over a decade and a half? Seems it could get pretty boring to me.

Something I've noticed about some music fans is they seem to have an odd tendency to feel as if they own their favorite bands -- an obsessive, smothering desire to put them in a glass case and never let them out.

This isn't terribly mature behaviour; musicians aren't please-all clowns, inclined to bend to every request to, once more, play their two "big hits." Any attempt at injecting a bit of art or exploration is met wish screams of anguish -- "You're not entertaining us! Stop that!"

"Please don't ever change," indeed. Give them a bit of respect for their own interests, willya'? You'll get a lot more out of their music in the long run, anyway.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
In response to aderack@hotmail.com, I like it a lot when a band changes--for example, Depeche Mode started as a really dinky Vince Clarke synth-pop group, then as Clarke left they expanded their sound to become more full and industrial, and these days they're experimenting with their sound more than ever, but I don't mind. Also, if R.E.M. had stayed with their original low-production mumble style, while their early stuff was really great, it would've run dry incredibly quickly--instead they decided to expand with Lifes Rich Pageant in 1986.

The difference with Oingo Boingo is that by 1993, the band had taken a backseat to Elfman's film scoring career (hence they broke up in 1994) and their music didn't change out of a desire to expand and experiment, but as a reaction to Elfman's change in songwriting skills. Film scores never call for bouncy synth-pop songs, so Elfman simply changed his style and wasn't suited for that kind of music anymore. Now, the songs on the 1993 Boingo album that don't sound like the band but really work ("War Again," "Change," "Spider"--"Insanity" is slightly bouncy in a way but also the most film score-ish of the bunch) are a perfect example of the merits of Elfman's newfound sound. The other songs on the album would work as well if they were trimmed a bit--"Hey!" is actually an okay psychadelic tune buried underneath four extra minutes of excess.

Anyway, my point is that Boingo wasn't born from a desire to expand, change and open up a whole new world of the band--it was simply a last album from a band whose leader was ready to move on to bigger things. To be quite honest, I'm sure that Elfman has gotten more money from his writing of the Simpsons theme song than anything he wrote with the band--a shame since most of the Boingo canon is just as good as that godly television theme song. Now, don't take this message as a put-down of the band or their later career at all--by all means I'd like it if they got back together, but I seriously don't think it's gonna happen unless Elfman suddenly gets a clear schedule or something.

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
Screw the critics, this was my favourite album for quite some time. There are a bunch of great songs that went unmentioned (main example being "Spider," which I still love, and the cool-riff rocking of "War Again), and the big songs all have really perfect melodies - and without that grinding production that bogged down most of the band's early records. "Insanity" is great, though I find the children's chorus a bit much, "Mary" and "Useless" are very pretty, though a bit repetetive (but so is that Dylan bastard, dammit), and "Change," while it should have been edited, is simaltaneously hypnotic and very catchy, something which few other songs can boast.

Low points? If I had to name any, the first would be the last four or so minutes of "Hey." It starts out very strong, but then goes off into that pointless "please, mother" crap. "Lost Like This," while a still good song, takes too long to get to the gorgeous climax of the middle eight. This problem is shared with "Pedestrian Wolves," which also loses points by going back into that Chili Peppers-like groove after it reaches its emotional high point. And "Tender Lumplings" isn't really a song. And the cover of "Walrus" doesn't hold a card to the original. And everything is too damn long.

But it's still great! I remember all of these songs, regardless of how many other great ones I've heard. I really don't get why everyone despises it so badly - sure, it's a change in sound, but would you rather listen to them become completely generic, like on that Boi-ngo album? I should hope not.

afterspencer@juno.com (Spencer G Warner)
Boingo is my least favorite OB album. It shows how far from the band that Danny Elfman actually was. I will admit that Insanity is in my top three, the lyrics are incredible as well as the music haunting my dreams. War Again is another good one from Boingo, the lyrics are incredible. There are a few good tracks, but most are simply too long.

HarVSatan@aol.com
The intro at the beginning of "Insanity" is not "Batman" but is an extract from a classical piece called, "Icelandia"... and is perfectly menacing.... as the artwork and album design dictate. (It might also be an homage to the "Only A Lad" LP, remember how it opened??) When I first listened to this album.... I hated it! I'm a Boingo fan from the Mystic Knights days and suddenly.... I found myself hating Oingo Boingo. I think partially because the album was mostly things I had heard live over the past three years before this release. "Insanity" is my fave, perhaps one of my fave songs ever. Is Danny religious right because he has made commentary in one song?? (I thought the Dan Quayle remark was hilarious.....but contemplate its inclusion.).

Here's how I break it down and, I should say, after several more listenings, it grew on me. (It now travels in the car with me.) I would've used "Tender Lumplings" as the intro..... since that's what it is. Then perhaps "Helpless" (the cassette only tune.... pre-view to "Clowns Of Death"). A lovely little ditty, that would lead into "Insanity" very nicely.(Trust me, it works on my home made version). "Hey" would be edited down to the "radio" version....omitting all the little slow bits in-between; the "Please mother/father" bits. (Except the last one for the fade out). "Mary" & "Can't See (Useless)" stay. "Pedestrian Wolves" is the casette bonus track. This song comes across as trying too hard to make friends of the "Anne Rice/Goth-Wannabe" crowd. "Lost Like This", "Spider", "War Again", and "I Am The Walrus" all remain intact. "Change" is divide into two songs: the psychedelia "My Stupid Life"...is segued into from "I am The Walrus" then "Change" is done as one song. (as it was in the live shows). "We Did It There"..... would be the kick ass jam number that closes the album.

This album took getting used to, new sounds and all, but it is obvious here, as in "Dark", Danny was trying to meld both "Boingo" & "Soundtrack" careers into one. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Also, the band becoming "Boingo" was Elfman's decision since they always called themselves "Boingo" and because they were on a new label off to a fresh start. Another joke was, Elfman called the horn section "Oingo" and, since they weren't touring.... Another answer was within a few years they would become "NGO", then just "O".

Food for thought...imagine if "Clowns of Death" had made it to the studio!!

mattro@raptorial.com (Mattro)
I think HarV is on to something here. Conceptually his suggestions work better than the disc Boingo themselves came up with... which I gave an 8. I like nearly every suggestion he makes and drool at the thought of a studio "Clowns of Death". On this imaginary disc, were Boingo to perform "Lost Like This" 1983-style: a tad darker and slightly harder-edged with a bridge that was completely left out of the Boingo version, then it would be in serious contention for the coveted 10 rating. If you throw in "Vultures" (short version) somewhere... Gold Medal all the way. Also coulda been a great double album if you think about it... "Water" ...and "Burn Me Up" ...and "Kiss My Ass"...these songs are no slouches and deserved the royal studio treatment.

All this is really doing is making me sad that Danny felt Boingo had to end when it seems things were getting so interesting for them musically.

ryder@grindle.com (ryd)
Greetings, A couple of quick things. First, in regard to the song "Change". It was a 3min track to begin with that was later expanded out in what Danny described in an interview of the time as "an experiment in musical elasticity". It was expanded up to over 20mins before getting cut back down to the length it is on Boingo. Secondly, I am a long term fan who has purchased all the Boingo albums and singles I can find. During the Napster era, I downloaded a few rare tracks (including one from the 80s with a chorus of "I'll kiss you when it's dangerous"). I have since misplaced the disc I backed them up on. I followed the link from your site to the "Boingo Graveyard" but, alas, it has been shut down. Could (someone) possibly point me in the direction of somewhere else I can find rare Boingo material for download? I have the greatest respect for Danny and Co and do not wish to deny them any royalties due, but I cannot find any of this material through conventional channels. Thank you for your time and thanks for keeping such a great band represented on the web. Regards, Ryder Grindle.

Subtitled: Live From the Universal Amphitheatre, Halloween 1995. Boingo calls it quits with a legitimate double live album (also available as a double live video!).

For long time fans of the band, Oingo Boingo's Halloween show in Los Angeles was a festive annual event, a sort of mini, self-contained Mardi Gras-style freak show. So, after a brief two week tour of the West Coast (which barely left California), Boingo chose to perform their final gig at the Universal Amphitheatre on All Hallow's Eve. Judging by the sound of this release, a gala affair it was.

Seventeen years of rocking presents a band with a lot of material to cover in a farewell concert. Only 2 hours, 25 minutes of that can physically fit on a double CD (the cassette version of Farewell contains two extra tracks the CD doesn't have). There are 30 songs here and just over half of them are from Boingo's golden era (1980-1985). During this period Nothing to Fear and Good For Your Soul were produced, arguably two of the best albums to emerge from the otherwise musically dreary years of '82 and '83, when radio sucked and punk rock was plotting an overthrow.

Boingo as a band didn't record much new material during the six years following 1987's BOI-NGO . This was due in part to the meteoric rise of Danny Elfman's film/TV scoring career; during this time the band seemed to become secondary to him. Elfman had always been the lone music writer for Boingo, but in the realm of film music he received a critical and popular acclaim that eluded the band and, for the most part, still does. The only new Boingo album to come out from 1987 to 1993 was 1990's Dark at the End of the Tunnel, arguably the band's weakest effort. On Farewell, there are only two songs from this period, none of them from Dark. Half of the songs from 1994's Boingo appear on Farewell which has four original tunes of its own, plus re-worked versions of Boingo classics like 'Nasty Habits' and 'No Spill Blood'.

The point is, if you haven't listened to Oingo Boingo since '87 (the end of their "hey day"), then half of the material on Farewell will be brand new to you. This new stuff is great and hints at the direction the band would have taken had they remained together. The newest of the new tracks, available only here in this live form, are 'Burn Me Up' (a slam dance-able tune with jazz influenced intros and outros); 'Water' (a honky tonk tune with a Lennon-esque bounce to it); 'Piggies' (a seven minute opus about a disturbed young man-- possibly the illegitimate son of 'Only A Lad'); and 'Clowns of Death' (a fast/slow rocker about a different kind of gang).

Of all the Boingo compilation albums, this is certainly the best one. Add to it the double video of the concert and you have a slice of Boingo history in your hands. The video has a 23 minute "documentary" segment that traces the bands' roots from the Mystic Knights era and includes backstage interviews with the Boingos as they prep for their last performance together as a band. If I may be sentimental for a moment, it's actually quite moving.

Now if Boingo will compile those unreleased b-sides, soundtrack tunes and other rare tracks on to a posthumous CD... well, let's just say we Boingoloids will provide the band with plenty of retirement royalties to spend on their grandkids.

C'mon Danny... guys... whaddya say?!

Reader Comments

pcg@raleigh.ibm.com (Peter Green)
9/10 Though I am a long-time fan, I never got the chance to go to a concert. About five minutes into the concert video, I started reaching for the razor blades to do myself in for never having gone. There are not enough superlatives for this album. Perhaps the most surprising aspect is the *new* music you mention: ``Burn Me Up'' and ``Piggies'' recapture the raw sounds of early Boingo. The ``unsurprising'' is that the band really puts on a show live. The unending energy, the chemistry of the band (especially of Elfman and Avila)...they certainly do not disappoint. The *diversity* of Boingo is made even more apparent by the scheduling of songs, old mixed with new, large production followed by pure rock, etc. This is not only the best Boingo compilation album, but perhaps the only one the Boingo fan should consider owning. A fitting crown to the most talented, most diverse band in the history of music.

WISEGUY@prodigy.net (Richard M. Soto)
I have seen Oingo Boingo since 1986! I have seen them about 15 times in concert including backstage passes. This in my opinion is the best live band ever formed! I have seen tons of shows all over southern California, and I can honestly say there is no performer like Danny Elfman! This video captures all 17 years of the greatest band of all time. And I might add that Oingo Boingo is the only known band to combine rock music with a three-piece horn section. This is very unique for this style of music. I think they revolutionized the music scene with their unique style. Check this video out and you'll see what I'm talking about.

robertk@jove.acs.unt.edu (Robert Linus Koehl)
Boingo Live is even more fun than on disc. The video is worth it if you can get a copy THAT WORKS! I bought one, but it was defected, and I couldn't get another copy. The live show iw great. They open with Insanity, and rock their way through "Noone Lives Forever," "Dead Mans Party," "Only A Lad," and 2 and a half hours of Boingo at their best. Someday this band MUST reunite, and I WILL be there.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
Things start out really messily and really pick up as the album progresses, so I'd give it an 8 or an 8.5. A very good song selection, and Elfman seemed to be just getting back to basics with some of the new songs (especially "Piggies"). I find it annoying that they left off "Home Again" however, and also that they really screwed up "No Spill Blood." And they hadn't figured out yet that "Hey!" sucks at that long of a length. But we do have a great soft rendition of "We Close Our Eyes" without all of the mainstream accordian shlock, and every other song gets a fine treatment. "Only A Lad" was an EXCELLENT way to close Boingo's career, and Danny sure must've put on a show... just his comments alone are a riot!

afterspencer@juno.com (Spencer G Warner)
One word to describe the Oingo Boingo Farewell album: WOW. This is the first OB album I purchased and I have been hooked since the first note of Insanity. So much energy went into the performance(s) that I am still kicking myself for not getting into Boingo before they broke up, sadly I will probably never have the opportunity to see them live. For that matter I will probably never get to see the video. If you are even contamplating getting this album DON'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!!

lotus@surfbest.net (Michael A. Adashefski)
A little more enlightenment: during the sessions for the 1994 Boingo album Elfman had a few more songs left up his sleve which could have turned that album into a double lp/cd. I have studio versions of Water and Vultures, a song which is Beatlesesque in its arrangement having a similar feel to Lennon's Glass Onion. Other songs which didn't make the cut were Kiss My Ass and a long dark song called Did It There. There are studio versions of Water, Vultures and Kiss My Ass floating around and the band did a gig at the Whiskey under the name Clowns Of Death. If the remaining studio tunes were assembled the '94 album could've made a great double set but that never happened, hence the cassette-only release of Helpless. Vultures was also on the setlist of the Farewell gig but never got released with about 90 minutes of the show as well. Anyone know who might have tapes of the Complete Farewell Show? I've got 4 hours with nothing to do to hear it all.

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