Customer Reviews

Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

5 star:		(195)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Sometimes there is that one song you hear that will make you go out and buy an album. In the case of the song, "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals, this was a song that completely grabbed me. In many cases, the remainder of the album will disappoint. Such is not the case with the album, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" - the album that contains the song, "You Get What You Give". What I discovered was an album full of introspective lyrics, great musical arrangements, and even some improvising. The result is a refreshing change from the trend the music industry would take in the late 1990s.

The New Radicals are essentially a "project" that was formed by musician and songwriter Gregg Alexander. By a "project", it means that Alexander is the sole core member of the band and none of the other members would be constant members. The two other musicians that could be considered quasi-constant members are guitarist Rusty Anderson and background vocalist Danielle Brisebois (yes the former child star who played Stephanie from the television show "All In the Family"). For all practical purposes this is a solo album and the bulk of the work is Alexander's work. Alexander handles all of the lead vocals a and is the sole songwriter of ten of twelve tracks There are two songs in which Alexander is a co-writer, "You Get What You Give" and "Someday We'll Know" - the latter song was co-written with Brisebois.

I found "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" to be a refreshing change of pace to the music landscape. In the late 1990s, Alternative Music began to take over the mainstream music scene. As far as Alternative Rock goes, this was originally a term that was a "catch all" to describe those genres (such as Indie, Grunge, etc) of music that didn't fit into the mainstream. . Eventually this music would become so common that it would become mainstream. In the late 1990s, the common element of many of these sounds was a strong guitar-laden presence. The problem with this sound is that much of it was "cookie-cutter" and would all sound alike. While using a guitar/bass nucleus, Alexander incorporates the use of piano and synthesizers with some funk and soul influences. In particular, I think it's the use of the Piano that really gives this album the edge. Some great examples of piano work are on the soulful, "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending" and "In Need of a Miracle".

Piano isn't the only place where Alexander shines. Songs "Technicolor Lover" and "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You" demonstrate a terrific guitar laden style. Both tracks have a terrific mix of both an acoustic style of guitar as well as electric guitars. It is worth noting that Alexander recorded "Technicolor Lover" as a true "solo" effort as he performed all vocals and instruments on the track.

The song "You Get What You Give" got a lot of attention - namely in the area of celebrity bashing. Alexander's words at the end of this song launch into a social commentary on everything from health insurance to cloning, big business, as well as celebrity bashing. There are plenty of other great examples of songwriting. On "I Hope I Just Didn't Give Away the Ending", Alexander explores the area of drug abuse. On "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint for You", Alexander explores topics from the Kennedy Assassination to environmental concerns to politics. Alexander explores love in the songs "In Need or a Miracle", "Someday We'll Know", and "Technicolor Lover".

I think one thing that makes this album something special is Alexander's use of improvising. Alexander isn't afraid to improvise during the songs and this helps him tackle the wide range of topics he is able to. "You Get What You Give" shows one of the best examples of this when Alexander launches into a social commentary described above. There are many other songs that also show examples of improvising. On "I Hope I didn't Just Give Away the Ending", Alexander changes the serious tone of the song and lightens it up at the end with some humor. In the middle of "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You", listen to the presidential sound-clip and Brisebois' powerful segue in which she sings "The first step of a successful revolution is to destroy all competing revolutionaries." On the opening track, "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough", Alexander sings gibberish toward the end of the song - and the amazing thing is that it works. Perhaps the ultimate example of improvising is the title track, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Lately" in which Alexander basically improvises the entire song. In fact even the lyrics of the song don't match up - let alone fit together.

In addition to the songs mentioned above, there are two other good tracks worth mentioning. The opening track "Gotta Stay High" and "Flowers".

The liner notes include all of the lyrics to each of the tracks with the exception of "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too". As mentioned, the lyrics that are included do not match up to what the title track song actually is. I'm not sure why Alexander chose to do this, but I guess it fits into the unpredictable trend of this album. One thing that is a bit annoying is that the lyrics are put in upside-down and backwards order format from the front cover. However, this also keeps with the album's unpredictable nature. The liner notes also include musician and production credits. One should also note that there is strong language used on many of the tracks of this collection. Overall, this is a very good album - and a nice change of pace from the sounds that have penetrated late 1990s, early 2000s music. It's too bad that the New Radicals did not stay together because this could have been the first of a lot to come. Highly recommended.

...by some of the greatest power pop and rock artists of the last 30 years, but this guy puts a fresh spin on every track. The first time I caught "You Get What You Give," I stood absolutely still, convinced that I was hearing Todd Rundgren's protege...I bought the CD that instant and haven't stopped listening. Every cut has a different sound but the through-line is always the same incredibly versatile vocalist/songwriter. My second-favorite cut is the very last, "Church on Monday" -- reminds me very strongly of Gregg Allman's "Sweet Melissa," with a touch of the Stones' "You're a Fool to Cry." It's one of only a handful of CDs in existence that you can listen to from beginning to end, without skipping over the 'duds' because there are none. And what a refreshing change from the angst-ridden, self-absorbed posturing of the untalented recording masses! I hope Alexander doesn't get brainwashed by the jaded music industry and keeps his creative groove, because he's a tall cool one for an audience thirsting for more. Amazing harmonies, arrangements and lyrics -- what a concept. You definitely get more than you give for this!

This is another one of those discs I see everytime I go to the used store, but I can't understand why. It's really quite good, with a positive vibe, and well worth the money you can easily find it for. I'll admit that "You Get What You Give" is the high point, but the rest is very similar in pace and feel. I believe "Someday We'll Know" was another single. Maybe a hard group to catagorize, but I'd call it groovy alt-pop, with a punk mentality. They almost remind me of some of the Mad-Chester bands from the early 90's. The singer does a great job, he's not afraid to let loose, and his voice fits the music well. Though I like the whole disc, they'll probably always be known for the one song. At least it's a killer tune with a great video.

In the late 90's, it was an era getting into the full swing of plastic pop-music, laced with atrocious orchestration, where gyrating hips and busty pseudo-blondes were dominating the airwaves, accompanied by male counterpart bands whos gimmick was the ability to sing in unison and dance at the same time (a step above walking and chewing bubblegum). As if it were a greek comedy, ironically, out from the middle of all this came the album "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" like a rose straining up between weeds and kudzu. The single "You Get What You Give" was music that actually sounded like genuine music, and from a major record label, and on top of that, it was getting airtime and had a video. I marvelled at this and had to find out who was behind it and what movement they were leading, so I did a brief internet search and found out "New Radicals" was pretty much a solo operation (Gregg Alexander) with the exception of studio musicians. Although some songs on the album do contain a few drug references, and Gregg at some points is not mild about his language, one reading of the lyrics to the album's title song (Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too) is comparable to the lyrics of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?", or some singers and songwriters from the 60's but with a much sterner tone. Gregg brought out to the forefront many issues that musicians today are oblivious to, or are too delicate to touch. Anyone from this generation who would go through a collection of old albums would be in store for a real culture shock, not just on the quality of the songs, but of their content one might say "Wow, people actually used to sing about this stuff, and they were hits?". Yes, the problems didnt go away just because we stopped looking at them. Gregg himself claims he is a firm believer in the power of music, unfortunately much of the music out nowadays has about as much power as a hill-bound Hyundai.
Getting back to the quality of the songs, not all of them are upbeat and positive, but one thing Gregg always comes back to is life and love. He sings about real things, some songs are sad, but they're not dismal. Some songs have drug references, but they're not about drugs. He has a knack for being able to write songs that convey emotions that we've all felt. He sings them like he really relates to you but you can't find the words to express yourself. "Someday We'll Know"--The second single from the album has already been covered by two other artists/groups, one of them being the great Hall&Oates, and the other, Mandy Moore. It's no surprise that Gregg turned out to get the BMI music award in 2004 for his hand in writing "The Game of Love", a song that received over one million airplays in a year, sung by Michelle Branch. He has since written and produced for dozens of other artists after he disbanded New Radicals, and even if "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" did come out years ago, there obviously continues to be a small, but growing fanbase of his work.

William Cooper's review is very thorough ~ and thanks for answering the baffling lack of synchronicity between the printed lyrics and actual lyrics on "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" ~ at least acknowledging it! I've been searching forever for an explanation or response regarding that. I bought the CD for the same song most everyone else did, but my hands-down favorite is "Someday We'll Know...." The only thing that WC may have left out is the "soulful" quality in some of the selections. Darkcloak states, "it's a willful indulgence in pop with some interesting highlights." I agree, and can only add that overall, the CD is brilliant.

I can agree with others that at times the lyrical content seems what I would call amusing at best and immature at worst, but I think that if the band had stayed together, they would have easily worked through that - it wouldn't have taken very long. (Similar "mistakes" were made by Prefab Sprout and they've succeeded, imho, in spite of them).

While others might call this a one-hit-wonder, I rather think the entire CD is better described as a *magnum opus*.

I recently rediscovered this album, while rummaging through my vast record collection. When I was a young-mid adolescent, I really enjoyed the album. Now I not only enjoy the catchy pop-music, but I especially like the lyrical content. Gregg Alexander's subject matter ranges from romance, sex, tripping, addiction, radicalism, faith, etc. I especially like the narratives, "I hope I didn't...," and "Jehovah made..." The title track is very moody, but it does stand out as the most psychedelic/experimental track, and I it sounds great. Like many others I lamented Gregg Alexander's descision to end the project, which lead to the "One Hit Wonder" status. That title isn't too bad though since "You Get What you Give," is my favorite song on the album, which makes the New Radicals my favorite "One Hit Wonder." I'm not a huge fan of "pop" music, but this album has been one of the highlights of my music collection for quite some time now.

If you like or dislike the review, let me know.

This is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. It doesn't ever get played out. Every song on this cd is sheer brilliance and it seems befitting that Greg Alexander decided he couldn't handle the music business anymore......his music is just way, way too profound and real for the dumbed-downed masses to really appreciate or even understand. He did the right thing, one classic record and out he goes.......absolute GENIUS!!!

The New Radicals CD "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" has a rare unique quality difficult to find in pop. Gregg Alexander's voice really has an ability to reach you deep down to your core. When I first heard "Get What You Give", I instantly loved it. I assumed the album would be an up-beat poppish collection of music, however when I bought it, I was pleasantly surprised to find much more variety of music than one would expect after hearing that single song. "Flowers", "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending", and "I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" are my particular favorites, because his voice carries the songs so well and when you listen to them, they hold a very personal quality. It is really a shame that Gregg Alexander is not singing for the band anymore, I have not yet heard a male voice that is as unique and soulful as his. If you don't own this CD, give it a chance, listen a few times, read along with the lyrics, and I believe you will get to treasure it as much as I do.

I bought this CD when it originally came out. Like many people i was interested in it b/c of the single "You get what you give." As much as i loved that song it isn't even in the top 3 of the songs i love on this CD. Crying like a church on Sunday is amazing. What I found interesting about the lyrics is that they caused me to think a little harder about the message and what the stories related to. I usually listened while driving and this is GREAT music to listen to on long drives when you just want to be in your own thoughts, day dreaming a bit.

i listen to any and every type of music if it's good. this album blew me away from the day it was released. i have hundreds of cd's, and i estimate listening to this record between 400 and 500 times since i bought it (and counting) i twist friends arms to buy this one, and if they don't i buy it for them and every single one of them loves it.