Customer Reviews

Fred Schneider

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

All the songs here are upbeat, given that it's Fred Schneider, who originally released this in 1984, before the lackluster B-52's album Bouncing Off The Satellites. A pity, because this could've been a better album for them. This was remastered and remixed in 1991.

"Monster" is one of my favourite tracks here, as there is an innuendo implied, although Fred states in the disclaimer that this wacky space-age song with tag team guitars that it's about a dinosaur walking around in his polka dot PJ's and not what some dirty-minded people might think. Think about it: "There's a monster in my pants and it does a nasty dance. When it moves in and out. Everybody starts to shout. Monster aah!" The backing vocalists include Kate Pierson.

"Cut The Concrete" is a quick-paced tune made a bit funky by the clavinet bass synth, but also fiery with some guitar by Tom Beckerman. It also features some call and responses between Fred and his male backing vocalists. "Cut the cake/cake ain't good/cut the rug/don't know if I should" and so on.

"Summer In Hell" is the other favourite here, about a lost city in Atlantis, so Fred says in the disclaimer, but the lyrics seem to indicate otherwise. Although after some party conversation, and the song goes on, it emphasizes "hell" as a fun party rather than the infernal regions, where the "hottest time is the hottest place/and don't be ashamed to show your face." A really fun number and a fun place to be, if someone'd invite me.

The rowdy space song with its space age sounds, "Orbit" seems to be a throwback to old B-52's songs like "There's A Moon In The Sky" and is about a trip to space, encountering all sorts of things "oh...the dog in the Sputnik!" or a place I want to go, "the Asteroid of Lonely Women." Worthy enough to be a B-52's song.

"I'm Gonna Haunt You" is a silly Halloween song, about "spooks and ghouls and horrors and haints/one more scare and you'll see the saints." Nice and catchy, but what's a haint? Kate Pierson contributes backing vocals here.

A duet between Fred Schneider and Patti LaBelle? "It's Time To Kiss" is that song, with some surf-like guitar, with the usual silly lyrics about my lips meeting your lips.

"Pack it up baby, put on your best dress, the ship leaves soon, this planet's a mess" says Fred on "This Planet's A Mess," about a scenario where mankind has failed the test, ecologically and possibly nuclear, and the world has gone down the tubes. The moral: "Better think about our future/Yeah, it's time we planned it."

After the surfing song "Wave," comes the ultra silly "Boonga (The New Jersey Caveman)" which seems more like a dance with the "boonga boonga boonga" line, and where Fred urges the Jersey girls to shout "boonga" which they do in a really high-pitched vocal. And I give Fred credit for rhyming "snobby" with "wasabi."

Fred had enough ideas of his without the rest of the B-52's. A good and silly, but fun album, though it would've been nice if a), he had released another solo album after the B-52's Good Stuff, and b) if Kate Pierson had also done a solo album herself.

nice to have this LP on CD, but I don't understand why they chose to remix 5 of the tracks--including the big single, MONSTER! They still sound good because they aren't overly remixed, but fans of the original LP will distinctly notice differences in the sounds of the songs. the five tracks remixed are:

Monster
Cut the Concrete
Summer in Hell
It's Time To Kiss(with Patti LaBelle)
This Planet's a Mess
Boonga(New Jersey Caveman)

Too bad they couldn't have included the original mixes in the original line-up and then tacked the remixes on as "bonus tracks." Because chances are, this album will never be reissued with the original mixes on CD...

The genesis of this album is a little obscure.

This is titled "Fred Schnieder and the Shake Society," but I have an earlier CD (and LP, come to think of it) that is titled only "Fred Schnieder."

To further confuse things, I have a LP that goes back to some time around 1980, titled only "The Shake Society," with a fabulous martini-themed cover, that is, cut-for-cut, identical to this album.

Anyway...

Any album whose best cut is titled "Monster in my Pants" is okay with me.

This is very much like a B-52's album except that no one was looking over Fred's shoulder. The results are amusing.

So, what we have here is a B-52's album with even more obtuse lyrics. "Cut the Concrete" is a mindless gem.

So, if you collect things B-52, you won't regret this little chunk of musical frivality.

I still have the original LP-yes vinyl! I was forced to buy the CD after my failure to find anything I could download besides "Monster." I'm glad I did.

This disc is loaded with great dance tracks, laugh-out-loud lyrics-check out "Summer In Hell"- and one of the most unlikely duets imaginable, Fred Schneider & Patti LaBelle.

A good purchase, especially for B-52 fans.

This cd is Hilarious thats what I like about it but the songs are really basic. Thats kind of the trade off most people would find this cd annoying unless you are a fan. I just bought Just Fred and I'm not sure if that is gonna be as good or better but I hope even better.

Fred Schneider is the distinctive male vocalist from the B-52's. Here he is helped out by some of the band members. These songs are unique, and if you like early B-52's (B-52's, Wild Planet) this CD is for you. I don't have the CD (yet!) but the same songs are on the LP "Fred Schneider & the Shake Society" so I'm vouching for the musical content not the quality of the CD itself. The LP was a clean, crisp recording. This could easily be 5 stars, I'll reserve judgment until I receive my CD.

Not quite up to the B-52's standards. A few good songs, but otherwise not too exciting.

This album originally came out in 1984 with the title "Fred Schneider & The Shake Society". It is now labeled "Fred Schneider". Five of the nine tracks have been remastered and it greatly improves this album. The B-52's Kate Pierson also sings on this album, as does Patti Labelle.

Tom you're right. The original 1984 us release was called Fred Schneider, self titled. I had a copy of the original 1985 cd pressing, which was stolen. I then found it again, which was then stoled again! >=| Then I finally once again found an original 1985 pressing, but as you can imagine it is now so oxidized that you could easily navigate a vehicle with it over your face. =(

I'm thinking about getting this version to compare, if possable, but I dont like the idea of the remaster, because I remember the original sounded pretty darned good. 1991 wasn't necessarily a "bad" year for mastering engineers, but was definately the start of the demise of the "proper" mastering job.

If you find an original 1985 pressing of the self titled Fred Schneider cd... please, for the sake of human kind, rip it with Exact Audio Copy secure mode and save it as FLAC or some other lossless codec. I wont stop looking... ;-)

j

Tom you're right. The original 1984 us release was called Fred Schneider, self titled. I had a copy of the original 1985 cd pressing, which was stolen. I then found it again, which was then stoled again! >=| Then I finally once again found an original 1985 pressing, but as you can imagine it is now so oxidized that you could easily navigate a vehicle with it over your face. =(

I'm thinking about getting this version to compare, if possable, but I dont like the idea of the remaster, because I remember the original sounded pretty darned good. 1991 wasn't necessarily a "bad" year for mastering engineers, but was definately the start of the demise of the "proper" mastering job.

If you find an original 1985 pressing of the self titled Fred Schneider cd... please, for the sake of human kind, rip it with Exact Audio Copy secure mode and save it as FLAC or some other lossless codec. I wont stop looking... ;-)

j