Intercourse

The Tokens | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Oglio Records
• ASIN: B0000589GQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #680,420 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. It's Amazing To Be Alive

2. Droplet Of Water

3. Bathroom Wall

4. Animal

5. Greenfields

6. Wonderful Things

7. Commercial

8. Gray Is Gray

9. Waiting For Something

10. I Could Be

11. Girl On 6

12. I Want To Make Love To You

13. In & Out

14. Stereo

15. You Loser-You Fool

16. Some People Sleep

17. Bonus Track

Editorial Reviews

From the depths of the legendary BT Puppy vaults.....(a label which seems to have as many "lost albums" as they had hits!)....the very Daddies of Softpop....The Tokens! Though the Tokens are best remembered for their international smash hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", recently revived in "The Lion King", they did much more....producers, writers, publishers and label owners, they had a long string of hits in all those roles....."Intercourse" is a full on Softpop song cycle, inexplicably turned down by their then-label Warner Brothers, and released in an edition of 200 copies on their own BT Puppy label for contractual reasons.....far from their Doo-Wop roots, The Tokens delivered an album pitched somewhere between Pet Sounds and Sergeant Pepper, with all the production and arrangement tricks that implies.....no wonder Warners were dumbfounded!.....and no wonder collectors have been going nuts and paying silly sums for this album ever since!.....Newly remastered by The Tokens themselves, this is a surprise treat in anyone's language, as The Tokens show not only every cult Softpop group, but many superstars just how it's done....with the wicked tongue-in -cheek touch which they were justly famous for. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Psychedelic Doo-Wop, May 29, 2003

By 

R. Josef (New Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intercourse (Audio CD)

Not something one might expect from the doo-wop group that made "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", this wonderful little album shows that the Tokens had a lot more creativity than they were given credit for. The band cites "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt. Pepper" as influences on the sound, but "Intercourse" most closely resembles the bizarre Beach Boys release "Smiley Smile". There are a lot of short song fragments, weird sound effects and Mellotrons linking full fledged songs with a decidedly goofy, druggy sense of humor, such as "Bathroom Wall" and "Animal".
Yet, there are other surprises - the atypically hard-edged "You Loser, You Fool"; the haunting closer "Some People Sleep" and the exuberant vocal fanfare which opens the album, "It's Amazing to Be Alive". All this is drenched in the Tokens' stock in trade -- amazing multitracked vocal harmonies. Again, reminiscent of the Beach Boys in approach, but with that "New York" sound.

Unfortunately, the band's record label at that time, Warners Brothers, refused to release it -- probably because it was too far out for a group like the Tokens. It's very much of its time, but for people who really like late 60's psychedelic pop like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Hollies or the Association,"Intercourse" will indeed by a wonderful addition to their CD collection. The only drawback is that it's too short. At under a half hour, it sort of seems like a bit of a rip-off in the CD age. On the other hand, the new Oglio re-release evidently restores the original, beautiful LP cover painting. So, if you're nostalgic for a little spacy pop, pick this one up.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lost Classic ... Superior to Beatles, Beach Boys, etc, November 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Intercourse (Audio CD)

If ever a lost musical classic exists ... it is Intercourse. While I am sure the title of the album is a substitution for the real name given how Warners records apparently screwed over the group, this is truly innovative. It has rich harmonies and very interesting lyrics. Lead singer Jay Siegel was never better and the group is extremely tight. If you love the very best of the later day Beatles or the retrospective Beach Boys, then you must get this CD. It captures the energy of those other groups and leads them into brand new territory. Classics shine regardless of time ... you have got to hear this CD.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mitch Margo is still doing it!, January 23, 2009

By 

The Information (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Intercourse (Audio CD)

In 2008 the single "Be Nice" by Mitch Margo hit MySpace on a page called "brounit". For some odd reason it vanished from MySpace but can still be found on YouTube on a page called "lazaka"; like Intercourse once again the edgy work of Mitch Margo magically disappears, then re-appears! When you compare his outrageous "Be Nice" to songs like "Some People Sleep" and "Its Amazing To Be Alive" you find the common thread that Mitch is someone who isn't afraid to write about life itself--even the delicate fragility of our nature! For Warner Brothers the material of Mitch may have been too hard to swallow, but I say it is the work of pure genius. Find out where it all started by listening to Intercourse by The Tokens, then the haunting and even rarer LP entitled Cross Country.