Customer Reviews

Bride Of Firesign, The

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

 

 

Being a long-time Firesign fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this, their latest. However, it is by far their most self-referential work yet. Lines and characters from their early albums pop up in slightly new, modernized forms. They even make direct reference to themselves as a group! As amusing as this is for the "initiated," I can't imagine how someone who's never heard the Firesign Theatre before would react. The album sounds great, with fantastic FX work & music, and loads of energy in the performances. And now, with fans of the group sliding (much to my personal chagrin) towards "Rocky Horror"-dom in their eagerness to show their familiarity with certain classic jokes and situations through audience participation (in a live context, of course), it's nice to see the Boys playing around with the fans' expectations. Peorgie & Mudhead (David Ossman & Peter Bergman) are now Cyber-Truckers, Nick Danger (Phil Austin) now has a faithful canine companion, Relent (Philip Proctor), and Rocky Rococo & Lt. Bradshaw (Proctor & Bergman) are vying for a Bride (the namesake of the album, to be genetically engineered by Ossman's maniacal Dr. Firesign) to help them win the upcoming Mayoral race. Throw in the usual media parodies and lots of Internet humor, and you get a pretty good idea of what you're in store for. I'd elaborate further, but that would take another dozen listenings. Which, of course, means that this album is as dense and layered as their best work. I can't wait to see what they have in stre for us next...

Opening caveat: If you don't know these guys, don't start with this CD; you'll never get it. Buy as many of their CDs and/or vinyl records that you can find. After about a year, come back and try this one; you'll be glad you did. Now, for any Fireheads who haven't yet heard this one...buy it! It is easily their most accessible, obscure, sublime, stupid and funniest ever; and if all that seems self contradictory, you don't know the Firesign Theatre. Nick, Peorgie, Mudhead, Bradshaw, Rocky, BeBop, even Von Pederazzi (at least it sounds like him), and other characters from throughout their amazing career all come together for Regnad's most surreal adventure yet. Hearing Danny Vanilla swinging from speaker to speaker (and even out beyond them, I swear) is worth the price of admission alone. Or Blutwurst's adventures with the cattle prod...

My only real concern is that there seems to be an air of finality to this record (they even officially retire the brouhaha joke)...including the very interesting liner notes from the 4 or 5. Could this really be the end? Or is it only...well, I hope it's not, but if it is, what a GREAT note to end on. Thanks, guys! Whatever happens, you've given us all a lot to laugh and think about. Cheers.

Over their thirty-year plus recording career, the Firesigns have managed to accumulate a large repertoire of in-jokes and self-referential material. That material is put to good use on this record, which is framed by an extended Nick Danger "story."

You have computerized truck drivers, driving on the information superhighway --- an updated version of the -Bozos On This Bus- imagery. You have a political campaign between Inspector Bradshaw and Rocky Rococo. And lots and lots of Canadians. This is perhaps their densest and most topical record of their last three, and goes the furthest, in what's left of my mind, towards recapturing the magic of their classic albums of the Seventies.

Let me start out by saying that I really love these guys and when they're at their best there is no better audio comedy. This album just isn't at that exalted and sublime level.

The problem with this album is that it relies so much on references to their previous work, but not (in my view) in a constructive, take-it-one-step-further way, but in a more parasitic or cannibalistic way. They've always been self-referential (which can be good) but in this case it seems as though the jokes are ONLY funny if you know their earlier material - they're preaching to the converted, playing the nostalgia card. This is disappointing.

There ARE some good moments - I like the opening bits (Peorgie and Mudhead as cybertruckers), but once Nick Danger comes into the picture it seems like a bad parody. The "check out our website" messages seem completely out of place too somehow.

Maybe it will grow on me, but it's not nearly as good as "Give Me Immortality..." which is up there with their best work.

Neophytes should start with the old stuff (Dwarf, Bozos, How Can You Be...?) and move on to Immortality and Anythynge.

BOF adheres to the old 50% rule of How To Avoid Alienating Your Audience; BOF is 50% familiar material and 50% new stuff.

Characters from earlier FT records appear and are updated accordingly. The latest culture references are deftly lampooned, untainted by political correctness. Old FT story threads are picked up and new threads created. Underneath it all, the same intelligent, pun-ridden, sublimely funny and surreal FT sensibility pervades and continues.

As with all previous FT efforts, BOF is a muddled backbiting jumble of cliche-skewering ideas, bizarre characters, cultural barbs and word jazz. A mythologization of modern times served up with red beans and reds.

As in all previous FT efforts characters, situations and jokes reappear and continue to support the FT universe, a larger work unapparent by listening to only one album.

On its own merits, BOF gets a solid four star rating from me, a diehard fan. As compared with the recent cd releases of other comedians and satirists it probably deserves five.

And you can believe me, because I never lie and I'm always right.

...So here's the deal. Yes, they basically take existing characters and put them in new situations. Yes, the first segment (a satire of the Men's Movement, by the way) was a surprise the first time. And... it all works! It's freakin' hilarious!

They obviously knew what they were doing when not creating all brand new characters, and don't be concerned about them reaching a creative dead-end, as opined by some reviewers herein. Remember, Give Me Immortality introduced a whole new set of folks in a format that is extremely flexible (yes, I know Ralph Spoilsport isn't new...), and that was just 2 years ago.

You'll love things like the Mobius Strip, Unca Pharoah's, a club called The Haystack in a building called The Needle (666 stories tall? Interesting reference). Porge and Mud are at it again, but they aren't the main thrust here.

Very well done. And, nice liner notes from the troup.

Very aptly named. This one is a real treat for the serious die-hard FST fans in particular, as this album references many of their earlier works, often in amazingly subtle ways (i.e. sometimes a single word or phrase said just the right way, etc). Especially impressive to me is how characters from previous albums are revivied and synthezied into new characters. For example, Bebop Loco from "Give Me Immortality" merges with Laura from "Eat or Be Eaten," a trick that is possible only in FST-land, where characters are defined by their rhetoric rather than by their inner nature. A dizzying ride overall, but probably not the best one to listen to before you check out their earlier works.

The brilliance of the Firesign Theatre is that there has always been something more with each listen -- and the boys (4 or 5) have achieved it and more with this recording. Listen carefully -- no listen cavalierly, there is every element of the brilliance, creativity and (oh, what's the word) HUMOR that made them special some 300 years ago. Well, maybe only 35 years, but it seems to be an ancient time when then once invited us into their not-too-far-from-realistic world. Sure, I was taken aback by the first cut at my first listen. Then I listened again, and again cause that's what you have to do with Firesign. And it is great.

They are coming to PBS I hear and I can't wait. But until they do, I will ride with the internet truckers and await the outcome of the Ricocco/Bradshaw election with glee. Did I say glee? Oh, heaven forbid I admit such enjoyment. Forgive me.

I have just listened to this once so far but when you like one on the first hearing you can figure it's a keeper.

As other commenters have pointed out, this one contains a lot of material that borrows from previous work, especially Nick Danger. People would be well advised to listen to How Can You Be Two Places at Once If You're Not Anywhere At All before listening to this one.

I would say that is the one main weak point of this album- a little too much regurgitation of Nick Danger jokes.

However, there is a lot of new humor. I thought they did a great job of loosening you up right from the get go, I found the first track, the one about dicks, to be hilarious.

Also there is quite a bit of backdrop that they borrow from Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death (largely a play on contemporary radio for those not familiar). That's fine with me, I like that one a lot. Again, people might want to listen to that one first.

While people have pointed out this album may be hard to follow for those not familiar with their past work, if you are more or less familiar with it I found that this one is very accessible and easy to get a good share of the humor even on the first listening.

In contrast I recently got one of the old era albums that I had never heard before, Everything You Know is Wrong, and didn't get much out of it from my first listening, but it has gotten such glowing reviews I suspect it is one that just takes a while to fully appreciate.

Imagine if you will taking several of Firesign Theatre's classic albums, breaking them into equal pieces, and then putting an album together from randomly chosen parts. That's kind of what The Bride of Firesign is like.
It opens with our old friend Peorige watching TV and before you know it he and Mudhead are off to work, driving a truck that's carrying a crate of eyeballs! Suddenly Nick Danger walks out of the f(r)og and meets his twin tormentors - Al Bradshaw and Rocky Rococo who are now squaring off in the political arena. After crossing though several familiar references both past and future (Young Guy, the RadioNow crew) everyone ends up at the castle of the mysterious Dr. Firesign, who is about to remake his bride with there help.
This CD is more fun than a ride through Nick Danger's funhouse! I'm not sure what it all means (I've only listened to it twice) but it's fast, furious, and Firesign through and through!