Bargainville

Moxy Fruvous | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 1994)
• Original Release Date: February 8, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IXP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,531 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. River Valley

2. Stuck in the 90's

3. B.J. Don't Cry

4. Video Bargainville

5. Fell in Love

6. The 1 Lazy Boy

7. My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors

8. The Drinking Song

9. Morphée

10. King of Spain

11. Darlington Darling

12. Bittersweet

13. Laika

14. Spiderman

15. Gulf War Song

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not unless you want to think..., May 26, 2000

By 

MPS "picassocat" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bargainville (Audio CD)

I have loved Fruvous for a long time now, and I love watching the stellar reviews that their albums get. I hope that people will read them and buy the album; more people need to listen to Moxy Fruvous.

But before you think, "Oh, a fun record! Let's buy it!", a word to the wise. While Fruvous has some flippin' hysterical songs, some of them are, in fact, tragic. And Bargainville is absolutely no exception. Fruvous likes to have fun, true, but they rarely miss an opportunity for outspoken politics and biting social commentary. They also write brilliant love songs. These undertones, which you don't hear if you casually listen to Fruvous, make fans think, and bands that make people think usually aren't that popular in mainstream music.

So don't miss what they're -really- saying in songs, especially listen for: *Laika (This song has such stinging desperation in it...it's all in the lyrics. One of the best Fruvous songs, hands down) *Video Bargainville (of course fun, but a great commentary on independent businesses) *The Drinking Song (live, this song is even more incredible, but the slight humour is only trying to soften the blow of a senseless death)

If you're willing to really listen to some good music, with pointed lyrics that never waste words, incredible harmonies, and good old-fashioned fun (how many other accordian solos have you heard lately?), then try Bargainville. Or any other Fruvous album...you can actually be rewarded for thinking about life.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best CDs ever., August 6, 2000

By 

Elena - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bargainville (Audio CD)

Okay, I'm biased. I've been a Fruhead for 3 years, though I've only seen 8 shows. Moxy Fruvous, according to me, is the best band in the entire universe. This is the CD that made me a Fruhead for life. I love every track on this album. Every one of them. There are so many good things about Fruvous, and this CD shows off most of them. They flow from genre to genre; there are fast rock songs, beautiful pop ballads, wickedly satirical folk songs, crazy goofy energetic a cappella, and even a sweet lullaby in French. Oh, and they do some of the best harmonies I've ever heard. They all sing, they all play, they all write.

I can get up and dance to "King of Spain," and then grin at their erudition while listening to "Authors"; hey, I've read those authors too! And how can you not love a band that covers "Spiderman"? If all you wanted was a fun, bouncy CD, about half of this one would be perfect. But there's more to it than that.

What makes this CD really special is the serious songs. As I progress further into the CD, I keep having to stop, and savor the music and harmonies, and say, "That was beautiful." On "River Valley," when the four voices hold the line "Coming home, it felt like God," you just know this is going to be something really good. Then comes the gorgeous, intricate a cappella bridge in "BJ Don't Cry," an otherwise bouncy song. "Fell in Love" is a sad song with, once again, stunning harmonies. "The Drinking Song," for me, is wrapped up in memories of standing with arms around the shoulders of strangers, swaying, singing and even making the "played some Nintendo" gestures -- wonderful and sad, with the tiniest spark of humor.

And then there's "Gulf War Song." It's a cappella. It's perfection. It's my favorite Fruvous song, and possibly my favorite song ever. I'd pay full price for this song alone. I can listen to it over and over. It's not whiny or preachy at all, as some political-themed music can be. Just listen to it.

I normally don't praise CDs this much, but this one deserves it. A quick warning: if you're uncomfortable with liberal political themes, if you think harmonies are wussy, if you don't want music that makes you think, then this may not be the right album or the right band for you. But it's right for me.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the heck is a fruvous, and why is it moxy?, November 18, 2003

By 

Kevin Bourrillion (Mtn View, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bargainville (Audio CD)

I am addressing this review to you.

You have never heard of this band before. You were just browsing around on-line and you came across this page. Or you heard the name "somewhere", you can't remember where, and you came here to check it out.

You're desperately searching for that next album you can fall hopelessly in love with. You want to learn all the words. You want to sing them at the top of your voice. You want an album that you can hardly even listen to *without* singing along.

You want to find your new favorite band. You want them to have a deep back catalog from which you can slowly but surely fill out your collection, and you want to be shocked over and over again with each additional disc you buy to find that you love it as much as the first.

You're sick to death of artists who got famous based on their hipness, their image. Shouldn't musicians have to have *talent* to sell records?, you lament. You don't necessarily want a band to be dorky, but you want them to not care whether you think they're dorky or not, and just make great music.

You may or may not be a fan of They Might Be Giants, but you've heard their more "quirky" songs, and you aren't put off by them.

You love the Beatles.

You don't want "epic soundscapes" or "phat beats" or any kind of soulless genre exercise. You hunger for the kind of band where every song they release is unique and special and worthy of your love.

Maybe you're six years old. Maybe you're sixty.

I think you know where this is going.

Moxy Fruvous is the band you're looking for! And Bargainville is their best album. It's an excellent cross-section of all the many things that make them a truly great band.

I cannot believe that music like this can be had for ...bucks.