Customer Reviews

Diary of the Madmen

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

 

 

I'd rate it five stars but I am holding back only because a few of the songs get old after a hundred listening sessions in the convertible with the top down racing in the sun at 100 miles per hour. Seriously great summer driving/BBQ/beach album from a criminally underrated band.

It's a short album when you subtract the 7 fillerish tracks (1, 3, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17) but it still leaves a 10 track pop masterpiece that strikes a perfect balance between eclecticism and immediate melodic hooks, programmed beats and rock guitar. There seems to a be a particular influence from The Rentals' album Seven More Minutes on a few tracks, most notably the profanity laden single It's A Brother Sister Thing. The album even uses samples, something I normally can't abide, to great effect, most notably on Cool It Now. It can't be overstated how adept or at least well produced the two main vocalists sound, Marc's hoarse semi-spoken style perfectly complimented by Sharon's girly croon. The lyrics perhaps remind you a few too many times that Len is a party band, but on The Royal Screwjob Marc offers some socially conscious affirmation of self-belief in pursuing your own vision "be lost, be strange, be what those other people won't do, you know you're right."

"The Diary Of The Madmen" by the LEN crew is the most superior album released in this decade! I've been listening to it over & over again, almost constantly such as when I'm eating breakfast, lunch & dinner, in the bathroom, while watching TV. There are a range of pop, rock, hip hop and techno songs on this album "The Diary Of The Madmen" and it keeps you rocking like a freak on a leesh! In between the tracks there are funny skit shout outs from Denero. Stunning brother-sister duet Marc & Shar Constanzo sing together in the tracks "We Are...", "We Be Who We Be", "It's A Brother Sister Thing", "Another Crazy Nite", "Fight" and the bonus track "Video Killed The Radio Star"! Personally, my favourites which I can't get out of my head would probably have to be...um, all of them? Yeah I'm being sarcastic, because of I was being realistic I would be saying "ALL OF THEM!", and that's right, all of them are too good!

This is a really great, trippy, and FUN album. The songs are full of delightful snark and bounce, continuing Len's journey from a cute little punk band into a hip-hop head trip. A great soundtrack for springtime fun!

Diary Of The Madmen contain a lot of very good LEN songs and a few interesting colorful songs (Kookoo Docks). The best gems on the album include the cover versons of Video Killed The Radio Star and Cool It Now. Along with containing some of the best angry LEN songs ever (Fight, The Royal Screw Job). Unfortunately, the album does not include Bobby, We Rock The Mike, King Of The Block, and Saturday which were some of the best songs on their album advance We Be Who We Be. Dispite that, this album is a very good buy.

Just got the Cd and it's not what I expected but still great. The few reviews I saw of it would make me believe its an album but really just a compilation of the last 4 of years. Some really great songs and some ok stuff. Excatly what you'd expect from this group that traditionally give you a really wide variety of music. Nothing is like these guys out there so I would suggest anyone who loves a group who takes chances and makes great music to check this out. Lots of swearing and apparently lots of stores are refusing to carry it cause of this. These days, a group that doesn't care what people think is rare.