Customer Reviews

Boingo Alive

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not a true "live" album in the classic sense. The band is in the studio, but they played down the set "live" rather than engineering and layering the heck out of it.

So what you get are the best songs in their book at the time, played tight, hard and with extra bite. Many of the cuts here are head and shoulders above the "original" album cuts (and I loved those). Uptempo, with a nice horn punch and a surprising variety of styles and sounds; there isn't a dog on either disc. Lots of bites, but with more tasty pop hooks than any colection around. If you're considering adding some boingo to your cd colection, this is the perfect place to start.

When this CD (actually I bought the tape originally) first came out I was thrilled. OB had done something that most bands won't spend the time doing. They recorded a live CD (as they play the music in concert) in the studio.

So you get the best of both worlds. You get the music the way the band likes to play it, but it is digitally remastered and very crisp.

If however, you like live recordings with all the energy from the fans, get "Fairwell". This is the bands final live concert.

Every review says it and its true, this is the best Oingo Boingo collection. It improves on the studio arrangements by infusing a live vibe, while not actually being a live album (in fact, they toured to promote this so-called live album.) However, this is just the best way to hear this band. Each song is not only note perfect and frenetic as a spastic cat, but has the added benefit of elusively evading the worst of the late 80s production "values" (read "follies") of the time.

I have the casette and the CDs ... the casette stays in the car on permenant rotation ... I can't stop listening to this.

Bar none, this is the GREATEST collection of Boingo music available. Though technically not a live album (no crowd -- trust me, you won't miss 'em -- just the band on a soundstage), this set captures the energy, power and keen songwriting abilities of Boingo at their peak. The set includes old favorites and a couple new (at least at the time) tunes that'll keep ya hummin' and serves as witness to the dynamic, vital sound created by Oingo Boingo in the early '80's.

It's ashame seeing people on here put down this album. I actually went to this concert back in 88 and it was the first live show I'd ever seen. My parents made me go and it was one of the best decisions they ever made, in terms of exposing me to the world. I've been a huge fan ever since and I still own all their tapes, LOL, to this day. This CD is a great compilation of Oingo Boingo's tracks and I've enjoyed it for years. Even if u have some other CD's, I still recommend this one to wrap up all their tracks in 2 great CD's.

I remember back when I was in year 12, I was watching a movie called "Shruken Heads" that night when I heard a amazing song in the film with a pounding, pulsating beat. The song was "No One Lives Forever", I waited until the end credits and I found out it was by a group called "Oingo Boinog" and it was written by "Danny Elfman" (who was my favourite composer at the time and I had no idea he was involved with a band). Anyway, I went out and bought "Dead Man's Party", yet that wasn't the version of "No One lives Forever" that was featured in the movie. Finally, I bought this album on cd and vinyl and I was overwhelmed that it had the version of "No One Lives Forever" (even though it didn't even appear on the vinyl, only the compact disc). The songs in this double album are played at faster tempos, with different openings and such a wallop, that it is something truly amazing. The opening of "Dead Man's Party" is great to play driving down the coast and when you are on the highway doing 110km/h, you have to crank up "No One Lives Forever". It gets your blood going and shivers down your spine. My other favourite tracks on this cd are "Dead Man's Party", "Dead or Alive", "Stay", "Home Again", "My Life", "Not My Slave", "We Close Our Eyes", "Winning Side", "Private Life", awwwwwwww heck all of em. But especially "No ONe Lives Forever", for if I hadn't of heard this song then I would never of heard of Oingo Boingo and that is a very scary thought indeed. Also, this song kept me sane through my senior and univeristy years so I have tremedous gratitude for this song. So, buy this, play it and crank up "No One Lives Forever" just for me and enjoy life!!!!!!!!!!.

When I first moved to California in 1980 I was overwhelmed by all of the different types of music that was being played on local radio stations. There were so many choices, unlike the Pop and classic rock that played in Utica NY. Oingo Boingo was the first concert I ever attended and maybe that is why I am so attached to this album. It was at UC Irvine, Crawford Hall. Watching Danny Elfman and crew jam through their songs with wild abandon continues to be one of my fondest memories of the early 80's. It is not your typical Live album, it was recorded in the studio without an audience. These guys were a strange bunch, and made more so by their Halloween shows and this album. There are couple of surprises such as Sweat (Country Version) and some added Dead Man's party music. If you do not have a Boingo album, this is the one to have to experience almost all they had to offer.

Oingo is fast, fun, quirky music. If you've enjoyed any of their other offerings, this is a must have.

Don't let the album title fool you. Danny Elfman and the rest are such perfectionist before going on tour that they actually recorded their set prior to going out on tour. This is is studio quality with all the Boingo tunes you want to hear.

The other best of albums are good too but this one has all of the songs you want to hear!

OINGO is/was Lord of the Soundtrack Danny Elfman's old band, playing an eccentric, hyperanimated, and very swinging psychopop. There are so many crazy influences, manic arrangements and swooping vocal gymnastics displayed on their albums that I'm at a loss to pin the individual components down for analysis. Futuristic pop-rock as delivered by the house band at the cantina in "Star Wars", maybe - who knows? The lack of ready comparison points is the heart of Oingo's charm - writing them off simply as an "80s band" is a big mistake. Elfman's lyrics and vocals are reminiscent of - hmm, well, again, nobody comes to mind.... After a few early missteps, they began to hit their stride with 1983's GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL, and all their subsequent work o'erflowed with infectious tuneage that incorporated great craft and complexity as well as barely-controlled lunacy, boasting some of the hands-down best arrangements & productions you'll ever hear (one wag likened their albums to stereo demonstration records - a pretty accurate comparison). BOINGO ALIVE is the best place to start, a two-disc 'live' set recorded without the distraction of an actual audience (I told you they were strange). The 30 tracks are given high-powered renditions including many highlights ("Dead Man's Party", "No Spill Blood", "Stay", "We Close Our Eyes", "Elevator Man", "Only A Lad", "Who Do You Want To Be", to name a few) and while the frenetic pace might be a bit much without a pogo-stick handy, you're never bored. The '88 set naturally omits material from their last (and possibly best) studio album, 1990's DARK AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, but practically every other Elfman raveup is shoehorned in here. Put to pasture in the early 90s while Elfman devoted his energies to film scores; recently reformed as just plain Boingo, issuing one lackluster CD. What WAS Oingo Boingo exactly? I don't know...but to my ears, they sound good, smart, skilled and damned unique. That's gonna have to suffice.