GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL

This album, when it arrived in my record store in 1983, was where I first became aware of the insanity that was Oingo Boingo. From the opening notes of Who Do You Want To Be, as raucous a new wave song as I had heard at that point, I was hooked. There is a circus-like atmosphere to the album, and that's fitting, since the band sprang out of a circus troupe. The horns are crisp and precise, no matter how difficult Danny Elfman's compositions and Steve Bartek's arrangements might be. And speaking of Bartek, his manic guitar lines and solos often remind me of some of the off-the-wall avant guitar of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, or Snakefinger. The band hit it's first peak on this album, with Elfman's songs becoming more polished, yet still full of the darkness and paranoia that made the first two albums so much fun. He also was more overtly literate here, citing "The Island of Doctor Moreau" on No Spill Blood (which contains some outrageous samples in the rhythm track) and "1984" on Wake Up (It's 1984) (of course). While the album is not as overtly prog as the first two, the instrumental phrasing, and the odd combinations of chords, along with the ultra-high energy of the music make this one of the most exhilarating of musical experiences. To me, this is a five star album, and one I treasure greatly.