Freaked Out & Small [Original recording remastered]

The Presidents of The United States of America | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 2, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: P.U.S.a. Inc.
• ASIN: B000654Z00
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,903 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide

"[The Presidents] still make catchy, punky pop tunes, but dammit if they don't sound better than they ever did..."

"The Presidents' loopy mix of punk, power-pop and folk...makes for wondrously catchy singles."

"...Thanks to the abundance of cliched hip-rock on the airwaves these days, The Presidents' reemergence is welcome indeed."

Product Description

How come you’ve never heard of this record by a band that’s sold millions? And why did it only sell 25,000 copies when it came out on dot.com startup Musicblitz.com in 2000?

Well, it wasn’t because the record isn’t great. 'Freaked Out And Small' got rave reviews in CMJ, Alternative Press and All Music Guide, among others.

Presidents guitarist Dave Dederer offers a full explanation: "In 2000, the Presidents didn’t even exist. We’d been split up for almost three years. A family friend of mine was doing A&R at this startup, and he offered us some dough up front to go in and cut a record for a download-only release. We told him we weren’t a band, we weren’t reuniting, we weren’t going to play any shows, we weren’t doing any promo and we’d make whatever the hell record we wanted to make. By the time we were making the record, Musicblitz realized that the web thing wasn’t going to work. They decided overnight to become a brick-and-mortar record company, something they knew nothing about. And then they went bankrupt just a couple of months after the record came out. Personally, I’m blown away that it sold as many records as it did. And I’m proud of the record – it’s probably my favorite thing we’ve recorded."

The Presidents are, of course, reunited. They’ve been touring the U.S. since early 2003 and released a new album, 'Love Everybody,' in August 2004. All three of the Presidents’ NAIL releases are on the band’s own PUSA Music label.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Presidents at their BEST!, March 3, 2006

By 

D. Bergman "schoolie" (Ames, IA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freaked Out & Small (Audio CD)

I own three PUSA albums already (I, II, and Pure Frosting). After purchasing this fourth, I have to admit that the Presidents get better with each album. I loved their more well-known hits from their early CD's, but "Freaked out and Small" has got some of their best songs yet.

Lots of goofy content here, some that I'm probably wise not trying to figure out. But some rocking songs like "Tiny Explosions," "Nuthin but love," "Last Girl on Earth," and "Jupiter." Also some neat slower songs in the mix. The demos are interesting - many are the same tune but with some major differences - instrumentation, tempo, etc.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for any Presidents fan (and anybody who loves fun, toe-tapping music).

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1 of 25k..., November 24, 2004

By 

W. Kramer - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Freaked Out & Small (Audio CD)

So yes, i was one of the few people who actually bought that cd off of musicblitz.com. (which i think is now a realestate page.) Anyhow, if you have heard any of the Presidents past albums, you'll love this one. This one is a bit more fun sounding as chris ballew adds more of his keyboarding-ness... If you never heard of PUSA, they are a great rock band who play fun songs. Its not punk, not hard rock, not grunge, its just fun to listen to. Peppy little songs about goofy little things that will just make you smile. Great tracks that will surely get stuck in your head. I'm glad to see that they are re-releasing it again to a(hopefully) bigger audience.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pure Presidents, July 10, 2005

By 

Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Freaked Out & Small (Audio CD)

This disk takes the Presidents to the extreme! Everything that make the Presidents the Presidents (the quirky lyrics, the simple and energetic beat, the blasting wall of sound, and most of all the whimsy) is exagerated as much as possible. Who else could write an ode to the Death Star which includes the phrase "so good they built it twice"?

You may think you have the disk on repeat, because the first half is the finished songs, and the second half is most of the same songs over again, in demo versions. This may be a little much -- the polished versions are all better than the demo versions. There's a reason why demos don't usually get released.

However, even if they hadn't included the demos this disk would be well worth buying. It's almost impossible not to dance to. It's also better than the recent comeback album. This was the Presidents at their peak -- at least, at their peak in the first go-around.