Customer Reviews

Crackin Up

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

 

 

Although the album came out almost 16 years ago, I still get a chuckle when I listen to it, which is actually quite often (a lot more often than my wife would like...).

The only weak song is "The Flies of Texas." It just isn't funny--or even mildly amusing. If this song had been left off, I'd give the CD 5 stars.

The two best songs are "Three Legged Man" and "I'm My Own Grandpaw." Both are absurd, disturbing, and downright hilarious.

i have been a Ray Stevens fan ever since i stumbled onto "Mississippi Squirrel" on a pizza parlor jukebox in 1984! i was seven years old at the time and i picked it because of it's strange title and from that point forward i've been hooked. i now own every vinyl album/cassette he's recorded since 1967. this one, CRACKIN' UP, is for the demented fans like me. there's laugh out loud comedy on here but mostly the humor is more cerebral and sophisticated (his usual approach).every track on here has something topical or nutty contained in it. for example, "Three Legged Man" is a twisted song about a man who steals away a woman from a cantankerous old man with a peg leg. you have to hear it for yourself. "Cool Down Willard" offers some advice from a hapless man whose life has been turned upside down thanks to weatherman Willard Scott. Ray's vocal effects are a delight as "grandmaw". in a parody of Willie Nelson and Julio, Ray 'duets' with Julio on "Sex Symbols"...however, the Julio that Ray is singing with is an impersonation of the latin singer Julio Iglasies. the only track that might cause some people to ask: "where's the humor?" lay in "Gourmet Restaurant", a satire on french food and it seems to either be raw or on fire. another song, "Doctor, Doctor", is a satire on doctors. the old west is spoofed on "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty" and televangelists get what they deserve on "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". this is a wonderful CD and it's a great introduction to his sophisticated and demented style of comedy. Ray's humor isn't for everyone but neither is Jeff Foxworthy's.

Ray Stevens packs a marathon of listening fun in this manic collection of his finest lyrics. It's not titled "Greatest Hits," but it's my personal favorite. You'd have to listen to this CD a million times to catch all his "Ray-isms," like "Got more neck than Audrey Hepburn" in reference to a pet snake, and "Would (Jesus) wear a pinkie ring?" in his dig at televangelism. Forget the video store; it's an evening's entertainment to just sit at home and listen to this CD. You'll laugh until you wet your pants. And then Stevens will write a song about it. (How 'bout it, Ray? "Wet Skivvies?")

The problem I have encountered when shopping for Ray Stevens is that he repeats so many titles on every CD. Most are just compilations of other CDs, but the only repeated track on this one is "Would Jesus wear a Rolex". The first time I heard it, "Three Legged Man", and "I'm My Own Grandpa", were my favorites. The rest of them are an aquired taste. I liked this CD, and I think it would make a good addition to the novelty fan's collection.

A long time fan of Stevens, he makes me smile, this is an update for the older, which I am, cassete tape lond gone.

This is one of his earlier CD's, I was lucky to find it with help from Amazon. Really funny stuff.

like most people i enloy a good laugh, this album of ray stevens does just that and more. if you have a funnybone this will tickle it