The Men Who Loved Music

Young Fresh Fellows | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 6, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Frontier Records
• ASIN: B000003ST9
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,148 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

If the Young Fresh Fellows had been paid a quarter every time they were compared to the Replacements (which happened even before Paul Westerberg began name-checking them as one of his favorite bands), they probably could have bought a beer for everyone who owned The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest. But while the Replacements loved sloppy hard rock and liked to play dumb (or at least dumber than they really were), the Fellows' tastes ran more towards revved-up pop, and their sense of humor struck a near-perfect balance between clever and goofiness. The Men Who Loved Music is one of the band's finest albums, and certainly their most purely enjoyable; by the time the Fellows made their third album, they'd grown enough as musicians to sound tight and versatile without getting self-conscious about it, and their record-making skills had grown by leaps and bounds over their debut. And while nearly every song on The Men Who Loved Music is centered around some kind of joke, the jokes are actually funny (and bear repeated listening) -- there's no getting to the bottom of the cathode ray nightmare of "TV Dream," the clueless nerds of "When the Girls Get Here" are charming in their social ineptitude ("when the girls get here/we'll talk about integrated circuits and things/to show 'em how smart we are!"), "Amy Grant" has the good sense to play for absurdity more than nastiness (even as Grant receives career advise from God and indulges in dirty thoughts about Barry White), and "Hank, Karen, and Elvis" says more about America's obsession with celebrity than most serious songs on the subject. Best of all, take the laughs away from The Men Who Loved Music and you've still got a great record; the wah-wah fueled "Amy Grant" really does cut the funk, "Get Outta My Cave" boats credible hard rock crunch, the rollicking "Unimaginable Zero Summer" beautifully merges tightness and slop (with NRBQ's Terry Adams adding appropriate piano), and "Where the Hell Did They Go?" rocks with palpable joy, despite it's sad subject matter. A gem of an album, and the CD version guilds the lily with the seven-cut Refreshments EP, which includes their editorial on the joys of corporate sponsorship, "Beer Money." ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the perfect American pop record, January 1, 2002

By 

J. Savage (Weymouth, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Men Who Loved Music (Audio CD)

The Fellows aren't afraid of swiping inspiration from all over the musical landscape. Successfully looting the last 50+ years of pop music, they managed to harness everything that was ever cool, exciting, and fun in a way few (if any) bands have. It all gets unleashed on this disc: rock-a-billy, punk, pop, country all get the Fellows' special treatment. Listen to this album once; you'll be singing along and grinning as much as the band themselves by the end of your first listen.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Did I mention, nobody gets a 5 star ( Ooop's ), November 5, 2001

By 

andrew ward (Bellingham, WA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Men Who Loved Music (Audio CD)

Ok Ok, It's all true....

The apex (if you will) the height of Pop music is reached right here. Simply slide your mouse over and select the "add to my cart" button.

Your musical road map will change forever, you will run to the store and buy a beat-up old guitar and sit for weeks playing this over and over, giddy with laughter as you lose your job but uncover the secrets of E A and C, oh yeah and G too (for the bridge)

In other words it's simple, it's beautiful, it's funny it's timeless. No tricks no fancy production. A++ material

To my entire generation these guys should have been the "Beatles" to my circle of 20 or so friends the "Young Fresh Fellows" were our Beatles...it's that important (In "86" I was 21)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great unknown classic, June 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Men Who Loved Music (Audio CD)

It probably won't happen until the great reckoning, but at some point the music buying public will be punished for neglecting one of history's great rock and roll bands. From Seattle before and after it was cool to be so, the YFF's peak with this magnificent collection of pop, country, punk and even a dash of jokey ska/funk. Brilliant lyrics and rich hooks. If you buy one album this year, you should have bought this one in 1987. They need some beer money.