Customer Reviews

JoCo Looks Back

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

 

 

I recently saw Jonathan Coulton live, and what a treat! If you haven't experienced Jonathan Coulton yet, check him out on YouTube or on his own website... then make sure you buy this CD. It really functions as a "greatest hits" complilation, with fan favorites "Code Monkey" (trials and tribulations of a tech/computer geek), "Skullcrusher Mountain" (mad scientist fails to impress his female guest), "Tom Cruise Crazy" (needs no explanation!), "Re: Your Brains (zombies!), and "Chiron Beta Prime" (humorous Christmas greeting from an asteroid mining prisoner).

You also shouldn't miss "A Talk with George", a moving song about living life to the fullest.

Most of JoCo's songs are funny, but they're also earnest.... and feel-good... and sing-along worthy....

Jonathan Coulton is one of my favorite performers - he's a genuinely nice person (I had the opportunity to meet him briefly) and he is a clever and talented singer/songwriter. This collection is a sort of 'greatest hits' out of his collection, so if you're new to JoCo, this is a great place to start. Be sure to check out his website for free downloads as well as to purchase music directly from him.

This is a Jonathan Coulton "Best of" album so I have to give it 5 stars. Too bad the rating can't go to 11. This is a great example of the artist's range and imagination.

Fantastic CD, excellent dark humor. Funny cause it's true type of stuff. Also a wide variety of harmonies, doesn't sound like 20 rehashed versions of the same song as it seems is popular today. Hoping for the full Thing-a-week box set for Christmas!

This has a nice selection of his songs that someone newly acquainted with this artist will want to enjoy again and again. If JoCo were to have another go, I'd add "The Princess That Saved Herself", even if it meant 86ing another track. Just not Skullcrusher Mountain.

Like an even indie-er version of They Might Be Giants, Coulton makes modern pop rife with nerd references and catchy hooks. This "greatest of..." collection focuses on his nerdiest songs; computers, evil geniuses, sea monsters, fractals, and robots all figure prominently. But whether the setting is a Dilbertesque office, an island fortress, or deep undersea, "loneliness" is the predominant theme of these songs.

Most of these songs are (at the time of this writing) available for free through iTunes on Coulton's "Thing a Week" podcast. But c'mon, give him a few bucks so he can keep doing his funny, peppy thing. This CD would be worth four stars if it included his hilarious "Still Alive," better known as the closing credits to the video game "Portal." It's about a computer that is...lonely. There's something to be said for thematic consistency!