Customer Reviews

Go Girl Crazy

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Dictators, for their light years ahead of their time debut "Go Girl Crazy." I remember reading an article about them in CREEM magazine as a 15 year old and thinking, "man, I gotta have this album." It wasn't till a school field trip to NYC that I managed to find it in some Times Square record store, and I couldn't wait to get back home and listen to it...and sometime after midnight, as I recall, I had an epiphany. Or was I laughing my...off? It hardly makes any difference, because this was an outrageously great album!

The problem was, my friends did not agree. I loved The Dictators' goofy patter about professional wrestling, White Castle hamburgers, and their brilliantly 'stoopid' version of "I Got You Babe." I wanted to be a "Two Tub Man," even if I had absolutely no idea what the heck it meant. This was big dumb fun that couldn't have been made by anyone but a bunch of bored smart-arsed adolescent guitar slingers, and I loved its every nutty second. The Dictators were 'Politically Incorrect' long before the phrase was uttered; songs like "Go Back To Africa" and "Master Race Rock" mocked 70's conventional serious rock with so much gusto, it's hard to believe that so few got the joke.

Somehow, despite being once written up as Epic records' worst selling lp ever, it has managed to stay in print. That's amazing, considering that "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!" falls stylistically somewhere between Blue Oyster Cult and The Ramones. (By the way, The Ramones were still one year away from releasing their classic debut, compare The Dictator's "California Sun" to The Ramones' on "Leave Home" for an influence check.) Tough, smart, and funnier than just about anything before or since, "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy" is for headbangers with a funny-bone, and for anyone with a sense of rock and roll history.

It's funny to imagine some trendy hippie finding this at a record store in the 70's and seeing song titles like "Master Race Rock" and "Back to Africa". It's even funnier to imagine some white supremacist buying this album for exactly those songs only to hear "They didn't know we were Jews" on the first track. It's hilarious to hear the way they make fun of the Beach Boys with the harmonies on "(I Live For) Cars and Girls" or the even more hilarious Sonny & Cher cover. They send up everything from the transience of rock stardom to hippies to the idiocy of 70's hedonism. But for a band that plays it up for laughs, they're a lot smarter than they let on. You have to be in on the joke to enjoy this band, but enjoy them you will!

What about the music? It's somewhere between early Alice Cooper or Kiss and the New York Dolls or MC5, with chunky riffs and guitar leads and pounding rhythms. The punk elements of the band are more in their attitude on this album because they have a definite 70's hard rock vibe. But hey, it was 1975, "fast and loud" sounded totally different back then. It's quintessential rock n' roll -- music for unpretentious dudes who just want to raise hell and have a good time.

If you've never heard "Go Girl Crazy" its a real treat. The Dictators were doing the whole "big dumb hard rock that pokes fun of big dumb hard rock" thing long before Spinal Tap ever made it cool. The album is hilarious and catchy and well performed and everything else you'd hope it to be.

But the real reason I'm writing this review is this: I thought this album was a remastered release. Kind of along the lines of recent remastered re-releases of "Manifest Destiny" and "Bloodbrothers" a few years ago.

So I'm warning fans right now:

This is NOT a remastered edition of the album.

Its the same edition Elektra released in the 90's. It's just extra-budget priced now.

Is it a great album? You bet! But if you already own the original CD version, don't buy this, its literally the exact same thing.

First off 5 stars for the music, no arguments, no debates. You're reading this because you're a Dictator's fan and want to know if getting this remastered import version is worth it.
Okay, here's the deal..... I already have this album on vinyl and the original "domestic" cd version which was released by Sony back in the early 90's. I debated whether to drop the extra cash on yet another "re-released" Dictators album after being so disappointed with the sound quality of the "Manifest Destiny" reissues; but I did....D.F.F.D.!!!!!!
And thank you, thank you, thank you...someone finally "got it right". The improvement in sound over the domestic release is at times subtle and at times very obvious. The original album was co-produced by Sandy Pearlman (of Blue Oyster Cult fame); and, like Blue Oyster Cult's first album, "Go Girl Crazy" has always had a low-fi, dense, underproduced quality to it. The remastering job here has definitely enhanced the original recording, while still keeping the overall "sound" or "vibe" of the original. This import version strips away a few layers of "sonic-mud" present on the domestic cd release making the sound much more vibrant & bright. The most noticable improvements to me are the separation between the guitars and the vocals harmonies. The individual voices are much more recognizable as are the guitar parts/overdubs. The boom of the drum and bass tones seem to have more air to them. The higher end frequencies (cymbals) seem more bright & crisp too.
Overall this is just a better sounding album than ever before.
"Go Girl Crazy" was never an overproduced, sonic masterpiece, and I'm sure that was intentional. The garage-like sound quality was always one of the albums strong points. The remastering job here gives us the best sounding version of "Go Girl Crazy" to date. You can finally crank this up in the car without distorting the speakers. I strongly recommend any Dictator's fan to jump on this release ASAP. I got mine on zShops for under 10 bucks.
Finally, for anyone reading this who has "zero" Dictators in their collection? Buy this, "Manifest Destiny", "Bloodbrothers", "New York New York (Live)" & "D.F.F.D." in one swift purchase. If you love rock n' roll, I guarantee you will not regret it!

This has got to be one of my favorite albums. I knew a few songs off of it, when i saw it for six bucks at a used CD store. I'm glad to say that it had to be the best six bucks I ever spent (or maybe it was on Patti Smith's Horses). "Go Girl Crazy" is a loud Rock n Roll album, packed with plenty of humor. The lyrics are fun, and even go so far as to insult Lou Reed (even though velvet underground is all good, it's one of my favorite lines in the album), who basically created the 70's New York rock scene (which the Dictators are a part of). All in all, I highly recomend this album to anyone who's looking for a fun rock n roll packed weekend.

I bought this album after reading "Please Kill Me," the history of the New York punk scene. The author, Legs McNeill, says somewhere in the book that he and his cronies at Punk magazine were huge fans of the Dictators' album "Go Girl Crazy" back in the summer of 1975. This made me curious and I ordered the album from Amazon. I'm glad I did. Every song is a mini-masterpiece of anarchic, goofy, party rock. The Dictators were perhaps one of the most unpretentious bands in the history of rock. They saw themselves as a joke and invite their listeners to laugh along with them. But they also had a knack for pairing sharp lyrics with catchy guitar hooks, creating some truly memorable moments. My favorite opening line on the album: "Who's that boy with the sandwich in his hand?"

This album works as both a parody and a loving tribute to rock 'n' roll, and manages to be one of the best rock 'n' roll albums ever. The first half is okay, but the second half contains five of my favorite songs. This was one of the few albums in the 70's that tried to save rock 'n' roll from Frampton and his evil ilk. The covers of "I Got You Babe" and "California Sun" manage to be better than the originals, and "I Live For Cars and Girls" and "Weekend" are songs that the Beach Boys just wish they could've written. Some PC freaks may hate "Back to Africa" or "Master Race", but the Dictators are not serious, they're just kidding around. So what are you waiting for? Pick up this true R-N-R classic.

After years of worshipping many of the mid- to late-1970s NYC (pre-)punk groups, I thought I had it all down ... the VU, the New York Dolls, the Ramones, Television, the Voidoids, Talking Heads, Heartbreakers, Teenage Jesus, etc. After a recent re-reading of "Please Kill Me" (1996; 1997 2nd edition: ed. Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain), I paid more attention to the Wayne/Jayne County vs. Handsome Dick Manitoba scene. Legs McNeil and John Holmstrom, who are the people REALLY responsible for the cultural importance and significance of the term PUNK, were inspired to create "Punk" magazine in '75 for two reasons--the visual stylings of Harvey Kurtzman from "Mad" magazine, and THIS VERY ALBUM (see p. 268 of "Please Kill Me" [1997]).

So, to the album ... This record is a blast, from start to finish. "The Next Big Thing" sets up the advanced humor that the Dictators, courtesy of songwriter Adny/Andy Shernoff, possess. Dick Manitoba announces that the group consists of "jews," yet the group is called 'the Dictators,' which would seem culturally imcompatible given the atrocities of WWII. The song also contains some blistering, cheesy guitar riffing by Ross 'the boss' Funicello. After a so-so cover of "I Got You Babe," the weakest cut on the record, the band gets into high gear again with its two most controversial tracks, "Back to Africa" and "Master Race Rock," which understandably could not be taken so humorously by certain segments of the population. A dissertation could be written on the racy/racist politics of "Back to Africa," which is as wrong (full of colonialism and exoticism) as it is right (Handsome Dick professes his love for an African girl and claims to wish he was black!?). "Master Race Rock," again, given the name of the group and their ethnicity, cannot be taken too seriously, since this master race judges people by smelling their feet and other odd ways. By the way, these two songs totally rock -- usually involving four to five chords and some excessive yet accessible riffing.

Side Two continues to emphasize and celebrate pop culture and youth. Each song here is catchy enough to keep you humming for days on end. Plus, they get to "California Sun" in punkrockin' fashion two years before the Ramones, who definitely seem to take many of the Dictators ideas (and later master them) ... for instance, the "lets go" chant from "Master Race Rock" which shows up in the Ramones' most famous cut "Blitzkrieg Bop." The album closes with "(I Live For) Cars and Girls," which is the best Beach Boys song they never wrote. In other words, this underexposed album deserves to be in the same conversation as "New York Dolls," "Ramones," "Marquee Moon" and "Blank Generation."

I was introduced to the piognant fingernail scratchings against life's absurd chalkboard known as the Dictators in college. The songs are dripping with humor, wit and a whiff of universal teenage, chest heaving testosterone. The opening line of "Teengenerate"--"Who's that boy with the sandwich in his hand?" is nothing if not detatched, adolescent brilliance. The fact that the band was primarily Jewish makes songs like "Master Race Rock" an ironic, playful, three minute palimpsest. Adny Shernoff's songwriting talents are affirmed in the first listen. And the band sounds as if their next note could be the last one, and they turn and walk out of the studio, burning it to the ground before they unlocked their cars. The album is as at home on a long, drug induced road trip as it is on the family picnic, just to prove to your relatives that there was life before the manufactured angst of Alanis Morissette. Last, the song "Two Tub Man" has a second guitar solo that is the greatest manifestation of divine musical confusion known to humankind--truly orgasmic!!

A year before the Ramones' debut, the Dictators made it okay for rock to be stupid again, and in doing so, gave it back to the teenagers. You see, during the mid-70s, popular music had been moving in a very strange direction. It was being taken over by stuffy corporate bigwigs, self-important prog-rockers, egotistical showboaters, and cookie-cutter lite-rock groups. It was a dark age in musical history, a period in which the mainstream had turned its back on the very kids that allowed it to flourish. The glory days of the 50s and 60s- when people not only recorded things like "Surfin' Bird," "Louie Louie," and "I Want Candy," but actually managed to hit the charts with them- were dead and gone. Gone too was the aesthetic, the glorious hedonistic freedom that was the Elvis-given right of every single kid to be born in the rock `n' roll era.

Enter the Dictators.

Formed in 1973, the `Taters blew a big wet raspberry at the pretensions of the `70s, and made music that hearkened back to the aforementioned glory days. Armed with three chords, a couple of lunkheaded vocalists, and not much else, the group got down to the business of saving rock `n' roll. And they were just the write men for the job: Andy Shernoff, in addition to writing the songs and playing bass, provided some of the most heroically brain-damaged lead vocals ever put on record. His greasy, cocky whine of a voice positively dripped with teenage sarcasm and cheesed-off attitude. Guitarists Ross "The Boss" Funichello and Top Ten churned out riff after riff of Black Sabbath meets the Beach Boys goodness, and drummer Stu Boy King gave the proceedings a delirious, drunken lurch. The band's "secret weapon" was the awe-inspiringly awesome Handsome Dick Manitoba, a deranged lug who lent his beer-bellied backup vocals (and, on occasion, lead vocals) to several o these songs. He's also the good-lookin' chap who graces the album's front cover.

Go Girl Crazy is the group's debut album, and it's simply one of the greatest chunks of teenaged cheese-rock ever recorded. These nine songs evoke a beautiful world, a teenaged fantasyland of hamburgers, surfing, fast cars, T.V., garage bands, and professional wrestling. It's a place where it's always Saturday, your parents are out of town, and you actually know how to talk to girls! Songs like "Weekend" and "Teengenerate" are pure seedy joy, while Manitoba's vocal showcase "Two Tub Man" is a grease-covered anthem for cocksure morons the world over. The hilarious (and hilariously catchy) "The Next Big Thing" sees the group making a bid for their fifteen minutes of fame in brilliantly idiotic fashion. Just listen to Shernoff bellowing "And I won't be happy/ `Til I'm known far and wide/ With my face on the cover/ Of the T.V. guide," while the band hammers out a cowbell-laden punk-metal rock-out groove in the background. There are also two cheese-laden 60s covers: A totally bozo "I Got You Babe" and a rendition of "California Sun" that pre-empts the Ramones' version, and throws in some totally cool metallic guitars for good measure. "Back to Africa" and "Master Race Rock" are satirical pounders that prove it's possible to be smart and stupid at the same time. The album closes out with the amazing "(I Live For) Cars And Girls," a utopian masterpiece that describes some sort of teenaged paradise. The song has got it all: an irresistible chorus, sun-splashed Beach Boys harmonies, great lyrics ("The fastest car/ And a movie star/ Are my only goals in life") and fist-pumping guitars. Does rock get any better than this?

So, a totally awesome album for totally awesome people. Enjoy!