BOI-NGO

Despite the previous album having crowd pleasers like Dead Man's party and the theme song from the movie and TV show Weird Science, I find this album to be a (very) slight improvement over that one. Home Again is an interesting piece, mostly because of the layered vocals in the chorus section. Tell Me Where My Friends Go is a cool, call and response piece with some funny lyrics, and Elevator Man is the obligatory toe tapper. The album, while nowhere near as good as Oingo Boingo's first three, manages to remain interesting enough, with the slightly eerie New Generation, the not quite outrageous enough Outrageous, and the nice closer, Pain. The prog quotient is not much better than the last album, but at least it keeps my interest, and makes a fine party disk.

The year 1985 was a magical one for Danny Elfman, the creative mastermind behind the eclectic jazzy art punk and ska tinged new wave band that dominated the Southern California scene in the early 1980s. After scoring their biggest album yet with "Dead Man's Party," Elman started to receive offers to create music for film soundtracks after crafting the soundtrack for the zany mondo bizarro cult film "The Forbidden Zone." This led to the opportunity to compose the musical accompaniments for the off the wall film "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." And then the track "Weird Science" was used from the "Dead Man's Party" album for the silly sci-fi movie of the same name. It wouldn't be long until the floodgates opened and soon Elfman would become one of the biggest score composers in the movie biz especially after becoming Tim Burton's go-to guy.

In the meantime though after "Dead Man's Party," the world OINGO BOINGO continued and two years later the band's sixth album BOI-NGO was released. After moving from A&M Records to MCA with the Elfman solo release "So-Lo" which was really an OINGO BOINGO album in disguise, Elfman convinced the label to continue as a band however the band's zany eclectic circus act style of the early years had been tamed considerably. While still clever enough to stand above the competition in the world of new wave pop music, OINGO BOINGO continued the zany party music dance pop fortified by a horn section, punk guitar heft and ska syncopation. By the time BOI-NGO came out though the band had simplified its sound to be more of a streamlined new wave standard and much of the art rock elements had all but vanished at this point.

Diverted by his blossoming solo career BOI-NGO maintained Elfman's impeccable ability to write catchy irresistible pop hooks with cleverer than average arrangements which kept the band firmly planted into the world of new wave and synthpop although by 1987 the whole new wave scene was starting to toper off yet still had enough steam to coast into the alternative 90s. BOI-NGO starts out strong enough with three excellent tracks that are of the calibre of the material on "Dead Man's Party." "Home Again" features a caffeinated piano roll and all the feisty zest that made the classic OINGO BOINGO sound stand out. The track portends for another top notch new wave release. "Where Do All My Friends Go" takes a detour into a totally new direction thus showing Elfman's desire to experiment a bit more beyond the established stylistic approach. This track showcases brilliant call and response vocal perfomance between Elfman's regular self and a baritone doppelganger. Once again, brilliant horn section. Groovy funky bass and of course Elfman's unique vocal zaniness.

"Elevator Man' also offers a new sound but this time more of a regular new wave pop song yet with enough classic OINGO BOINGO magic to keep it interesting. It seems after three tracks that the album is another new wave classic but then something happens that really never happened on previous OINGO BOINGO albums. A huge quality dip. While "New Generation" is decent enough it sounds more like a by numbers kinda track. Then it just nosedives from there. "We Close Our Eyes" begins a run of mediocrity virtually unheard of in the OINGO BOINGO playbook. This track reminds me more of the 80s pop band The Hooters which hit it big with hits like "And We Danced, "All You Zombies" and "Where Do The Children Go." Likewise "Not My Slave" is about as generic as it gets. Is this still OINGO BOINGO? Clearly Elfman was too busy to write an album's worth of new material. The following "My Life" is another lackluster pop track and actually reminds me more of 80s new wave pop rocker Howard Jones in the vein of songs like "Things Can Only Get Better" only not that good.

The following track "Outrageous" picks things up a bit and sounds more like an OINGO BOINGO song as the horns return and the track is a bit catchier and more engaging however even this track sounds more like OINGO BOINGO by the numbers than something innovative and passionately delivered. The album ends well though with one of the best tracks on the album which was also the first single. The grand finale "Pain" is also a different sound for the band but one that works well actually. A funky bass groove and guitar add a punchy rhythm along with drop in / drop out guitar effects and horns. The song is ridiculously catchy, well composed and even features what sounds like a violin performance. The lyrics are actually quite profound as well. Short but sweet. Pop as can be but perfectly designed.

Clearly OINGO BOINGO was not Elfman's primary obsession any longer as BOI-NGO is the first release that sounds inconsistent as an album's worth of material. Sure none of the tracks are downright awful but given the phenomenal brilliance of past endeavors, this one is a clear step down with several tracks that just don't make the grade. It's a fun little pop album and any true OINGO BOINGO fan couldn't do without it but it certainly was the first album to feature substandard songwriting and an inconsistency that was unbecoming of Elfman's high standards. While more engaging than the following album "Dark At The End Of The Tunnel," BOI-NGO was unfortunately the beginning of the end for the classic OINGO BOINGO years. As it turns out, many of the best tracks were written during previous album sessions so essentially this album featured excellent tracks that didn't make it onto previous albums and then a bunch of filler. A mixed bag this one and disappointing overall but for those who love catchy 80s new wave, this is a decent release.

3.5 rounded down