Customer Reviews

Green Eggs & Crack

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Forget Harvey Danger, Barenaked Ladies, Green Day and a host of others. NONE of them would exist without the profound influence of groundbreakers like Too Much Joy. TMJ made better records (especially Son Of Sam I Am and ...Finally) but this early work is essential to own for the genesis of it all; and it's fun in its own right. The bonus tracks prove these guys have more TRUE punk in their little fingers than their disciples have in their entire styled-for-MTV-bodies.

Why yes, self-released, DIY & Indie do all mean the same thing.
Scarsdale, N.Y.'s TMJ (known previously as The Rave) recorded
this album while still in College inbetween semesters and on breaks over a four year period. Oddly enough, it's a cohesive, consistant, quietly bratty pop-punk classic. "Map Like Mine" is a college radio classic (or at least it sounds as such) and still is one of TMJ's best ever songs. "No Beer" is dramatic in a silly and genuinely odd way. "Innocents Ablaze", "James Dean's Jacket" and "Don Quixote" are light mid-80's sounding jangle-pop. "Bored With Love" is as poignant as it is humourous.
"Drum Machine" is the only song they kept from this album in their live repertoire. It's a mini-chuckle fest.
But the real unsuspecting whoppers here are "Years" (their best
alienation/angst song) and "Here's To Eternity" (easily their
best boozy song) which has the Son Of Sam reference "the dogs in my head" (a hint of things to come as well).
Both songs are TMJ classics.
The CD contains five bonus tracks - two from the Crack
era and three from 1993. The later period songs have no business being on here. As good as they may be, (esp. "Drunk & In Love") they make no sense being on here, thus messing with the cohesiveness of the entire collection.
These songs could've easily been released on Gods & Sods and would have really improved the truly lackluster ...finally.
It would've made a bit more sense to close the CD on the accapella delight "The Otter Song" as Tim says purposefully says "the end" at the end.

The initial pressing of 1,000 vinyl copies are pretty rare (of which I personally own a couple - like five or so).

Robert Christgau said the best thing about this album was the title and in the advertisement for the GE&C t-shirt I believe Tim's blurb under it read "the album's out of print but the shirts sound better anyhow"...these both read nice and are cutely
self-effacing but the album is quietly rocking, lightly irreverend and unsuspectingly great. Even though the band consistantly said that the album sucks. They were wrong.

Not the best work they've ever done - which means it's only better than 90% of what's on the radio these days. Historians will curse the 20th century for having ignored Too Much Joy. If talent was fame, they would be beyond legendary. So think of "Green Eggs and Crack" as a post-apocalypse "Meet the Beatles!" Be warned that you will be compelled to roam cut-out bins and used CD stores in a quest for their later work. The extra tracks include a glimpse of what was to come in "Secret Handshake" - which is better than 100% of what's on the radio these days. Buy it, and you can be cool, too.

I have been waiting YEARS to have this on CD. This absolutely completes any Too Much Joy fan's collection, and gives a real insight into how far Joy has come over the years -- as is evidenced by the new tracks that are included on this disc. "Secret Handshake" and "Drunk and In Love" have become two of my all time favorites. Plus, who can ever forget "The Otter Song," or switching the speaker balance back and forth for "Don Quixote" to see what's being mumbled during the chorus . . .

This CD contains 19 tracks, everyone has great pop culture references and is funny, really funny, insightful and musically brilliant. "Drum Machine" may be the best song ever recorded, and "Drunk And In Love", "No Beer", "Years", "Frustrated", "Secret Handshake", "Grandma Goes To Athens", "The Other Jacket", and "My Place" are just some of the other frathouse classics off an album filled with them. Out of all the smartass classic CD's this remains the best edging out They Might Be Giants and Ween's debuts and Flaming Lips in their prime.

Wow -- what a flashback. I had almost forgotten this record (or CD or whatever). This was a classic "let's have some fun" record back in, what, 1987? with my friends in Berkeley.

Here's my weird connection. My original LP has deep score marks around the little guy, because a buddy was doing the video for "some friend's band" and wanted me to do an animation sequence for their first (?) video. I had been doing a little illustration work on a college magazine with him, and didn't know jack cheese pie about animation, but ....

I was 19 or 20. I traced the figure and painstakingly drew maybe 50 animation "cells" on tracing paper, which my friend magically converted to computer in black and orange for the video for "Innocents Ablaze." In the video, the kid came alive and walked off the edge of the albume. Wow -- I was famous. Actually, not. And thank God. If you ever see the video, it's the most amateurish thing you've ever seen. I'm sure there was some severe disappointment among band members. But it worked. I got an album out of it. I probably should have followed up with the band, but I was just helping out a buddy.

If it means anything, friends and I still know "The Otter Song" and "King Fred," not to mention the fact that we occasionally quote the classic "Don Quixote." I wish young bands still started out so fun and fresh like this. But now we've got Eminem.

Great record, great memories.

Too Much Joy has been rockin' da house since the 'release' of this 'record'way back when I was but a lad. When this record was re-released recently a giddiness overcame my entire being at the mere notion of being able to hear the record that 'started it all'. (Non-TMJ fans be forewarned, it really helps if you are a fan already, buy all the other records, listen to them till you're blue in the face (you will love it) and then buy Green Eggs and Crack and then it will make sense to you. It is hard to grasp the young, raw, drunken emotion of this 'record', not to mention the musical 'genius', without a prior knowledge of TMJ and their welcoming, warm sounds. TMJ brings the listener into 'themselves' from the get go, allowing the fan to explore with them, and travel through the Too Much Joy narrative. (drinking helps.)