Customer Reviews

Absolute O'Brien

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a fan of Rocky Horror for many, many years now and recently purchased Shock Treatment, which I was totally captivated by. I love Richard's way of mixing 50's and 60's rock with that of the 70's and 80's. He is a wonderful lyricist and song writer and I'm very impressed with his work, in general.

I bought this CD hoping to find more of his music, similar in style to that of Rocky and Shock Treatment. I was disappointed with this CD mainly in the fact that the songs are all jazzy, lounge sounding songs. No electric guitars or catchy, fun choruses. There doesn't seem to be the same angst and fire that was in his other works. They seemed very mellow and tame, not cutting edge, rebelious, and memorable.

He does show his singing talent in this CD. If you are looking for music similar to his earlier works I wouldn't look here. If you want to see another dimension of Richard then this CD is worth a look.

I have been a Rocky Horror fan for 8 years, and absolutely love Richard O'Brien's rock music. I had heard this was more of a jazz CD, but honestly I didn't really know what to expect when I bought it. I had thought I would hear something quirkly, and probably a bit odd despite the jazz description, but much to my great surprise the music is incredibly good. Even though I do like his films, I admit I had somewhat written off his singing talent and had always thought of Richard O'Brien as mainly a cult patriarch - but this CD proves he does have real musical talent and diversity. I was in a bit of shock when first heard the first few songs - I remember thinking "he really CAN sing". If you are a hard core Rocky Horror fan and are wanting more rock music this is probably not a CD you will like. If you are interested in hearing an incredible voice with incredible music, not to mention gaining a possibly new perspective on Richard O'Brien's talent, you will love this CD.

What more could I possibly expect from this man? He's awesome and everything he does (I'll excuse Spice World...LOL) is awesome! Thanks Reckless Rick for once again proving your creativity and engeniousness. To anyone who is contemplating buying this album DO SO! When I got mine I had no idea how it was going to be and I didn't think I liked jazz at all. All in all the CD is awesome! My only complaint...IT SHOULD BE LONGER! :)

Don't expect "Riff Sings"...expect something much better! Smooth, jazzy and catchy. Great job, Ritz!

Richard O'Brien is a very talented singer/songwriter/actor. But unfortunately, outside of "Rocky Horror", "Shock Treatment" and maybe even "Dark City" -- most of his work isn't known about, even by the devout Rocky people.

Many of the songs on this album are from his Mephistopheles Smith live act he was developing in the early and mid-90s and finally gave up when the costume effect he insisted on going on gave him problems. He did however record some of the best songs (minus, unfortunately, "Disgracefully Yours" the title of his act) for this CD. He then added other songs that he wrote during the making of "Dark City" and recorded most everything in a soft jazz style that was decidedly different from his earlier tunes (exception "Running With The Noisy Boys.")

Does this style work for Richard? Not as well as Richard playing it Rock and Roll style, or listening to him play acoustically on his guitar (oh yeah!) But it does work.

Some songs like "It's Up To You" and "Rhythm of the Heartbeat" (the latter from Meph Smith/Disgracefully Yours) sound more like something you'd be listening to at Starbucks and are just a tad too mellow.

The jazz style, however works terrifically on other songs. While I prefer the unrelease acoustic version of "Incubus of Love" the jazz version certainly does it justice. "Angel In Me" also works well here. But where it really scores is on two songs "Ain't That to Die For" (again from his act) which is a great upbeat number, and "One Hundred Dollars an Hour" -- the rare song about prostitution and sensuality.

I'll be the first to profess more of a fondness for his rawer (and exceptionally difficult to find) earlier works released on vinyl such as his Kimi & Ritz and Dicky Hart singles, or the cast album to "The Stripper," another musical he co-wrote with Hartley (Hartley did the music, Richard the lyrics.) But we won't see a legitimate release of those songs on CD for year, and Richard would like to do another album before revisiting those works. But if you've already bought Rocky and Shock treatment, here's a chance to get another dose of cleverness from the shaven-headed one, Ritz.

I wanted someone to buy this for me from Amazon, but it wasn't available. I finally found a copy and just received it as a pre-birthday present to myself. I had heard 3 of the songs which he used in his Disgracefully Yours shows in the early 90's, as sung by Mephistopheles Smith. I had heard an interview where he described this album as being jazzy with alot of other styles mixed into it. After listening to it I wasn't quite expecting some of the songs that I knew, like Incubus of Love, to sound so much like lounge jazz. Really his description was absolutely perfect. One of the things I love about this album, besides the witty lyrics and his voice which always gives me goose bumps, is the heavy bass. That is one thing I have loved about all of the songs that Richard O'Brien writes. This isn't exactly like the music from The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Shock Treatment, but I think it is equally good. It is an album I can pop in and drive to, relax to or even play video games to really. Most of the songs are jazzy, some have a more classic country or early rock sound. Highly recommended for anyone that likes any of Richard's music and for anyone that likes jazz that has very witty and sometimes dark humor lyrics. Richard O'Brien is a great talent who doesn't get all of the credit that he deserves for his song writing and singing, but this album really shows off all of that. "Everybody here suffers from their sanity."

keep the faith,
dEx

Richard "Ritz" O'Brien is brilliant and his voice is perfect for this kind of lounge-y, blues-y jazz. Everytime I listen to this I just want to lick his eyes!

I have this album, Richard O'brien has a marvelous singing voice, and what is more he writes all the lyrics himself. This album is yet another success for Richard, its a must for anyone who loves richard's work, or indeed for anyone wanting some great music to listen to. After seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show years ago i always used to wish that Richard would bring out an album of some sort and I was so pleased when this one was released. I just cant wait for the next one. Keep up the good work richard!!!!

i just received this cd in the mail yesterday, but i haven't stopped listening to it since i popped open the shiny plastic jewel case and placed the perfect disc into my walkman! it's different from anything i already had in my collection, but it's just what i needed! it, to me, sounds an odd cross between adam ant and bryan ferry...taking the best of both, but becoming something so much better than either! it is, as other people have stated, very mellow, but that's not a bad thing at all! in this day and age of non stop stress, it's so nice to just be able to sit back and listen to this cd! and only o'brien could write a song('100 dollars an hour') about prostitution and make it sound so utterly romantic the way he sings it! i love him! i had been listening to the 'rocky horror' soundtrack, and watching both that and 'dark city' so much lately, i thought this cd might push me into overload, but, believe me, there is never enough o'brien....and on top of the cd's greatness, is the insert! complete with lyrics and plenty of pictures...for the girls and boys who like to ogle their boy as they listen to his seductively sweet voice! *sigh* it's certainly one of the most unusual and best CDs i've purchased in a long time....i only wish i had had the sense to buy it 5 years ago when i saw the advert in a magazine on it's release.....fool i am! but happy as a clam that i was able to still find it!

babble babble babble!

This is, hands-down, my favorite album of all time. It's strikingly different than the material Richard O'Brien is best known for (The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Shock Treatment), and it's such a marvelous venture from the styles he's more associated with.

This album is, at its core, a very laid-back, jazz-influenced album. O'Brien's voice is beautiful, though unconventionally so. Whether he's upping the pace on tracks like "Dance of Love" and "Running With the Noisy Boys" or slowing things down on tracks like my all-time favorite song, "Angel In Me," O'Brien truly shines and showcases his vast, unmatchable level of talent.

He's brilliant - the songs, the lyrics, everything. I can't say much more than this is an awe-inspiring, beautiful, shockingly enjoyable album by one of my favorite performers ever. It's brilliant - get it and be amazed.