Beyond the Valley of the Gift

Jello Biafra | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Alternative Tentacles
• ASIN: B000000F9X
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,797 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Message to Our Sponsor

2. Experts

3. Ban Everything

4. I Have a Dream

Editorial Reviews

Live spoken word album number four is just as riveting as the first three, even for three solid hours! (Got an afternoon to blow in a productive way?) Someday someone is going to crank open Biafra's cranium with a can-opener, and we can all have a look at this atomic brain that pulses and throbs so endlessly therein. Can you think of anyone who can talk as long, over such a variety of social issues/problems/outrages/lampoons, with such an overload of anecdotes, data, statistics, and information, presented with at least one belly-laugh a minute at the absurdity of it all? Sample: Biafra suggests Madonna as his choice for Bill Clinton's Secretary of Education (would her tome, Sex, become a required textbook? Just wondering!). Yes that means that he still finds ways to entertain throughout a blizzard of rants/observations/roasts, which has always been his saving grace while hammering us so silly. The topics/targets are the same as in the past, but that's because they are so exhaust-less: politicians, the military-industrial complex, so-called experts, would-be censors, polluters and anti-environmentalists, big-business (and third world exploitation), organized and disorganized religion (and tele-evangelists), parental paranoia, etc. Whether singing lyrics -- in his older bands/projects Dead Kennedys, Tumor Circus, Lard, etc. -- or just slinging it talk-style with his collection of sardonic voices, Biafra's social criticism goes down smoother than strict, dry politicos, and scores more often than a line of Bure, Lindros, and Hull. ~ Jack Rabid, All Music Guide --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The high priest of harmful matter continues to blow minds., July 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond the Valley of the Gift (Audio CD)

Jello Biafra, former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys, continues to perform punk rock without the music on "Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police." He also has the quality that most good speakers possess -- even when you disagree with him, you still enjoy his ranting and raving. This is the fourth in a series of spoken word efforts, all of which, I would argue, are of the same general level of substance and quality. Maybe it is because the substance is essentially the same and always poignant -- the police state is coming/here. Like an evangelist who warns us of the final days of earth, Biafra warns us about the final days of freedom. Big Brother, big government is the antichrist, and no one delivers this message so well. Part of this stems from his own experience, which he recounts in one way or another throughout his spoken word recordings, as an artist persecuted by the establishment. For those of you who are unaware, Biafra was arrested and charged with distributing harmful matter to minors and tried in Los Angeles in the latter 1980's (there was a hung jury and the case was dismissed). Biafra's food for thought is seasoned heavily with contempt for the religious right and absolute paranoia with respect to government control -- you get the feeling he is expecting a death squad to be waiting for him outside of the lecture hall at some points. Even so, you, the listener, wind up asking yourself, "What if even 10% of this is true?" It is alarming, to be sure. Unlike many others who peddle inflammatory rhetoric on one subject or another, however, Biafra frequently throws out the sources of his information for his audience. Ultimately, his message really is, "Don't take my word for it, check it out yourself." To use the Bill Maher line from "Politically Incorrect," somebody's got to say it. If somebody's got to say it, you can't do any better than Biafra.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lacking a bit of the ol' Biafra steam., February 6, 2001

By 

"princessali1027" (Bedford, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Valley of the Gift (Audio CD)

This album was very good. However, it seemed to lack the passion and energy that so many of Jello's albums have displayed so very well. Sure, Jello wrote and researched well, but there were few moments when you could really feel that glorious liberating feeling that comes out of so many other speeches from Jello's glory days. However, this album does happen to contain my favorite of his SW pieces: "Eric Meets the Moose Diarrhea Salesman". Being a fan, it's so entertaining to hear about how he got to where he is. And, if you're not a fan I think you'll like it too. Give it a try....

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This cd ROCKS!!!, June 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond the Valley of the Gift (Audio CD)

Jello has has agreat series of Spoken Word Albums and this is by far the best one!