Customer Reviews

Good Bad Funky

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It has been almost 20 years since Tom Tom Club topped the charts with songs like "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood". Many artists, from Grandmaster Flash to Mariah Carey, used samples of the groundbreaking Tom Tom Club beats for their own songs and scored major hits with it.

Now, eight years after the previous their last "Dark Sneak Love Album", Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth (of Talking Heads fame) put out their best album to date. With contributions from people like Charles Pettigrew (of Charles and Eddie and the hit single "Would I Lie to You?"), DJ Kid Ginseng ("produced by Chris and Tina") and Toots Hibbert, the Club sounds funkier and hipper than ever.

"The Good the Bad and the Funky" is a melting pot of styles, where rap, reggae, dance, funk and hiphop are combined with catchy melodies and the unique breathy voice of singer/bassplayer Tina Weymouth.

The songs on the album vary from the "Genius of Love" 'sequal' "Who Feeling'It" and the amazing single "Happiness Can't Buy Money" to excellent covers of Lee Perry's "Soul Fire" and Donna Summers disco classic "Love to Love you Baby".

Time to bounce!

This new album from the Tom Tom Club, lead by husband and wife tean Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, defies classification. It's beautiful, danceble, funky sound will appeal to new and old fans alike. As with their other material, the music and lyrics are completely unpretentious and fun. At the same time, the album takes on a deep funk feel in places, mixing island and urban sounds, with out losing it's playful edge.

I'm primarily a rock guy, and of course heard of the Tom Tom Club via Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense. I can't dance, and I don't generally listen to "funky" music, but this is an exception. Who else makes music that is funky, yet rocks?

These guys still do it better than anyone else. Their music is infetuously funky and groovy. Tina's vocals breezy and beautiful. Charles' soulful and fun- he is a worthy adition to the club. Each track on this album a keeper. It's fun and wonderful in every single way.

This has got to be one of the best Tom Tom Club albums to have come out in a long time. It's amazing that after all these years they can still do it, better yet, out do what they have already accomplished. This album has everything you could have possibly wanted in a dance record. It also has an appeal to more than just one category of music. There's everything from reggae, to funk, ska, disco, R&B, and hip hop. All the songs are great, that is why I would have to refer to it as a greatest hits. Either that, or an MTV Party to Go compilation of great songs, done by great artists. This is a feel free, let go type of an album. Those serious people, wanting songs that deal with major issues, need not apply. Have some fun, buy the newest from the Tom Tom Club.

The Tom Tom Club has returned with an energy that makes you want to smile and dance the night away. (Also great for cleaning house to!) Combining rock, funk, reggae and a general island feeling, you've got music thats pure delight. The guests, including Charles Pettigrew, just add to the richness of the experience. You are never quite sure what the next track will bring, but when your finished you just want to hit repeat and start over.

If you've forgotten the love groove, Tom Tom Club's first new disc of dance gems in eight years will bring your mind and body back into line.

I had this disc for over a month before I caught their infectious, luminous dancefest in Chapel Hill, and was already hooked on several cuts, including "Happiness Can't Buy Money" and the trance-dance "Superdreaming". THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FUNKY is simply my favorite feel-good CD of the year thus far, and hands down one of most joyous concerts I've ever had the pleasure of attending.

TTC blends so many idioms seamlessly, and their mixture of trip-groove, psychedelia, funk, hip-hop and disco is peculiarly Chris and Tina's. "Let There Be Love" is blazing, stratospheric bliss-funk with instructive lyrics, and the rest of the disc is peppered with TTC's whimsy and irony. The new line up here and in concert is probably the best to date. DO NOT MISS THEIR LIVE SHOW, FOLKS. It's the best joy fest bucks can buy.

Yes, this one merits purchase. TTC are by no means yesterday's group. This collection is new and vital. Comes with cool packaging and great James Rizzi cover art. Turn the People On.

With their latest release, the Tom Tom Club continue their (nearly) 20 year tradition of creating innovative, enjoyable music free of pretension and full of diversity.

The sound of this album is based strongly in reggae but musically branches into soul, funk, rock, and even punk. Using a myriad of styles can often sound forced or artificial, but with the vocals of Weymouth and crew (Charles Pettigrew, Mystic Bowie and others) the lyrics and music become locked together in a wonderfully organic way. In other words, this album has flow.

In a time where big production is the emphasis of popular music, new Tom Tom Club releases needed now more than ever. If you're one of those people who just can't dig on Eminem (now why is this guy popular?), Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, and the million other fake, plastic, packaged, marketed, pop bubblegum, stereotype junk clones out there (they're all the same I tell you!), check this disc out and bounce to the music...

WHO FEELIN' IT? Back in the day- early 1980's,- I vividly remember playing basketball on Sunday afternoons, and hearing a catchy little tune blaring from someone's " g- blaster", and that tune , to my knowledge , is one of the most heavily sampled songs of all time.In fact, the first two notes of that song are so recognizeable, that they send the moodiest of clubsters into a frenzy. " Whatcha gonna do when you get out of jail? I'm gonna have some fun! What do you consider fun? Fun , natural fun !" Hearing that lyric is like getting an instant shot of happy . ' THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE FUNKY, is an intoxicating mix of old school funk , reggae, house, and techno. Tina Weymuth borrows remnants of," GENIUS OF LOVE" and sprinkle them throughout the disc, and masterfully blend new voices, beats, horns, and rythyms to create one funky cd. This is the best TOM TOM CLUB cd ever made. "WHO FEELIN IT", "SOUL FIRE", the remake of super diva, Donna Summer's," LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY" , "HAPPINESS CAN'T BUY MONEY"," SHE'S DANGEROUS", and "LET THERE BE LOVE" are standouts. Actually, Every song is a standout. Normally I despise mindless, repetetive, techno dance music; nevertheless, there's something about the delivery of a TOM TOM CLUB song. The last TOM TOM CLUB cd I purchased, " DARK SNEAK LOVE ACTION"- forgive me if I've fouled up the title- that Cd was so atrocious, I needed therapy.Naturally, I was hesitant to buy this one. Thank God for small favors; this cd is righteous.

With a song title like that how can you go wrong? And then add the sheer brilliance of "Lesbians By the Lake." Seriously, the cd is fresh, spontaneous, and shows that this half of the Talking Heads knows exactly what it is doing. The continued reliance on "new" idioms, using current ideas and techniques in song writing, have made the TTC a leader in respected music. I love the quotes from other pieces of music - their own and others - not to mention the GREAT cover of "Love to Love You Baby."

I did the ultimate listening test yesterday. Took the cd in my truck for a drive out to the Santa Cruz mountains: I wailed the whole length of the cd! There's a reason why lots of folks credit the TTC with being their inspiration ("Wordy Rappinghood" ring a bell?); this cd will ensure that a whole new group of songsters will have a chance to insprired again.