Greetings from Timbuk 3

Timbuk 3 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: I.R.S./MCA
• ASIN: B000002O2P
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,058 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #80 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Post-Punk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and witty..., September 23, 2002

By 

A. Ort "aorto" (Youngstown, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greetings from Timbuk 3 (Audio CD)

One couple, a few guitars and a drum machine makes some great music. They are most known for 'The Future's So Bright' (which is darker than its upbeat rhythm indicates) but the best tracks on the album come after this one.

The music is simple but catchy and driving. The lyrics are very thought provoking and perhaps a bit on the cynical side but they are observant and spot on.

It seems quoting the lyrics is perhaps the best way to give a taste. My personal favorite comes from 'Hairstyles and Attitudes':

"It may be just hype but the latest findings cause me to tremble
Categorizing us by which of the three stooges we most closely resemble..."

This one's a treasure waiting to be found.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive alternative band; Definitive alternative album, December 11, 2001

By 

Marion Delgado (Eugene OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greetings from Timbuk 3 (Audio CD)

I didn't listen to Timbuk3 until 90 or so (except "The Future's So Bright"). My then girlfriend had this and Eden Alley and 100 lovers and so on. I really think it's in the tradition of seminal college music as much as bands like REM, Pylon, Let's Active, the Feelies, etc.

"Just another movie" is a good example:
"Presidential elections are planned distractions to divert attention from the action behind the scenes - like a game of chess when the house is a mess, or a petty money squabble, when your marriage is in trouble, or a football game when there's rioting in the streets. It's just another movie, another song and dance, another poor sucker who never had a chance."

I think T3 were the most listenable with fast songs like "Future's so Bright" and should have done more of them. But there are no bad songs on this album and a lot of treasures.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greetings are too often farewells, January 31, 2005

By 

Greg Kessler (Athens, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greetings from Timbuk 3 (Audio CD)

Pat Mcdonald was much more than a "one hit wonder" songwriter as so many here have suggested.

The bands that led the charts in the 1980's hardly deserved to even be compared to artists like Timbuk3.

If you had lived through the Reagan period and cared at all about politics you would have realized that few other bands were as relevant and focused as Timbuk3 (I would argue that Camper Van Beethoven and Elvis Costello were and appear to remain so- just check out New RomanTimes or Delivery Man respectively).

Way beyond the "Future's so bright" (BTW frat boys: it was always meant to be ironic)
there were songs like Prey, Dis***land was made for you and me, Border Crossing, All of Eden Alley (which I still think was much better than the first album), Waves of grain, too much sex and not enough affection, and many more.

These songs may have been musically limited to a period, but they were timeless in lyrics...just an example from "prey" today is more relvant than it was even in the Reagan/Gingrich era:

You never pray for peace
you pray for victory
you never pray for love
you pray for abstinence

You're mind's stuck in reverse
and life keeps getting worse
you say you pray for blessings
but it works just like a curse

You pray for the godless ones
the ones who will not pray
You pray for a savior
who will blow them all away
you pray on your bible
you pray on bended knee
and every time you say a prayer
you prey on me


I just wish I could drop by the record store tomorrow and find that Pat McDonald has written masterpieces equivalent to the many from Timbuk3 to address the atrocities of the Bush Administration. While we can barely keep up with the rate of impeachable offenses it may be difficult, but there is so much waiting to be written.

Everything that Timbuk3 did is still worth listening to!