Customer Reviews

In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

You just have to love the concept here: aging crooner takes up metal with his own, shall we say unique, stylings. I have listened extensively to Shatner and Nimoy sing. I have heard all the Golden Throats CDs (and love them all.) I even have listened to an album called "The Wit and Wisdom of Spiro Agnew." (Really.) But nothing prepared me for this. From the leather studded album cover with regulation glint in the eye, to the funny, yet ponderous liner notes, to the songs themselves, this is a masterwork of some sort. What sort, exactly, I'm not sure, but it demands to be listened to.

I guess this should be obvious, but if you are a metal fan hoping to hear a generic cover version of some of your metal and hard rock favorites, this CD is not for you. If you want to laugh until your sides hurt, it most definitely is. Standouts here include Metallica's "Enter Sandman", the seminal power rock anthem "Stairway to Heaven", and a stab at Hendrix with "Wind Cries Mary." All these are great, but do not even come close to the two best songs on the CD "Smoke on the Water" (you can for once actually understand all the lyrics, not that that's a ringing endorsement, mind you), and the greatest of them all, "Crazy Train." I have never in all my life laughed so hard at a song. The Ozzy classic comes across as something from a paunchy lounge singer in a purple crushed velour tux with a bad combover. This one song is enough to warrant the purchase of the CD. The funny thing is that despite the stupendous campy awfulness of this version, I could not stop hearing it in my head (occasionally resulting in inappropriate humming) for about two weeks: it is that powerful!

Buy this CD today and prepare to have a musical experience even more surreal than Shatner singing "Mister Tambourine Man." "In a Metal Mood" is truly out of this world.

I grew up listening to my parents playing endless albums by the squeaky clean Pat Boone. Never did I envision that 30 years later I would actually plunk down my own money for a Pat Boone album, but this was worth it. If you are a fan of the absurd or campy, this is the pinnacle of that art. Previously I thought that Bill Shatner's warbling "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the epitome of hilarity, but this takes the cake.

Pat singing Smoke on the Water will have you on your knees, crying tears of laughter, especially if you grew up on Deep Purple's original version. How about his cover version of Van Halen's Panama? I thought I would choke from laughter when I first listened to this gem. I have to give Boone credit. He good naturedly spoofs his own white buck shoe image and produced this album whic raises camp to a high art form. I love this album and recommend it to anyone with a sense of the absurd and a acerbic sense of humor.

Warning: Pat Boone's "In a Metal Mood" is funnier than "Spinal Tap." Metallica, Judas Priest, and other metal greats are slain on the altar of Lawrence Welk. It's the album Ed Wood might have done.

Seriously, the musicians on this album are world-class, and the arrangements are airtight. The problem is that classic rock does not translate to big band production. (Ironically, big band was the rock n' roll of ITS day.) Some of the original artists sat in on these recording sessions, so no lasting harm was done to the spirit of rock.

The concept and execution are hilarious. Consider: if you like the "Saturday Night Live" sketch where the married music teachers butcher top 40, "In a Metal Mood" is your Holy Grail. When Pat Boone clearly enunciates the lyrics, you find out that "Smoke on the Water," while a great song, tells a dumb story.

Sadly, Boone endured the scorn of his Christian fan base when "Metal Mood" came out. Pacemakers must have detonated all over the Bible Belt when people heard their old standby singing "Think it's easy doin' one night stands? Try playin' in a rock n' roll band." As Boone was dissed by home crowd, the rock community embraced him after their laughing convulsions subsided. Nice reversal - the youth market co-opting a conservative icon!

Give Boone some credit; he wasn't trying to reinvent himself. He just indulged a curiosity. He's still drinking milk, but "In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy" proves he spiked that milk at least once.

I can see it now...Ozzy Osbourne knocking on neighbor Pat Boone's mansion door, "Ello Pat, I just gave a listen to your rendition of me song, Crazy Train. I just wanna know one thing ol' bloke...what av ya been smokin', and where can I get some?" Then Ozzy would proceed to bite Mr. Boone's head off. It seems to be a toss up whether this album is a serious attempt at redoing some well known metal tunes, or the comedic parody of a life time. If it's a prody, then I say Mr. Boone is a genious. If its for real, then I say Pat Boone should be severley beaten within an inch of his life! Can you imagine Mr. squeeky clean crooning Judas Priest, Ozzy, Metallica, Van Halen, and Dio? There were moments when listening that I laughed so hard I swore I was gonna pinch a loaf! Can you further imagine that Ronnie James Dio helped produce on Holy Diver! Too bad Tom Araya and Kerry King of Slayer couldn't have lent a hand with versions of Hell awaits or Angel of Death! (Maybe they'll be future bonus tracks.) All in all, this is the funniest/most God awful thing I've ever listened to. Pat Boone is so square you could rest a beer on his head. So, if you want to spice up your next bong bash, throw "In a Metal Mood" in yer CD rack. But, on the other hand, if ya dug the white shoed, gleeming toothed, do gooder from the 50's, you'll be sure to clasp your heart uttering, "This is the big one Elizabeth, I'm comin' ta join ya honey!".

this is the funniest [stuff] i've ever heard. but i think it only works if you like any of the songs covered. i definitely don't think the [person]writing the review had a clue what was going on. i can almost see pat boone singing with the disclaimer that 'yeah, i got no business singing these tunes, but what the [heck] i'm a huge dio fan and his rendition of holy diver is incredible. it makes no sense; yet i find myself listening to it over and over. some of the other tunes are [great] as well, such as stairway, which just sounds badass when he does it. i equate this album to watching an episode of the simpsons. some things don't make sense when you first see(hear) them, but over and over again it's just plain funny.

This is a must-have for any music collector! Pat Boone does his own take on popular metal songs and the result is a surpringly entertaining CD. What's fun is to pop it in during a party and watch everyone get this confused look on their faces, then go, "Good lord! Who IS this???" Before he gets to the first chorus, everyone is singing along. Boone does not take himself too seriously and isn't honestly attempting to recreate the song, but to "interpret it" in his own style. It will take you a second to recognize songs that you've heard a million times. A totally fun CD!

I bought this CD and Lounge Against The Machine by Richard Cheese together. It's really funny and a unique take on some old favorites. I'm currently playing Hoyle Casino Empire, and it allows you to use your own MP3's as background music. I thought these would be perfect for a casino atmosphere. Another plus is that you can finally understand the lyrics. And to those of you who wrote negative reviews, please lighten up a little.

Yeah, yeah, all the so-called "hip" people think you're "squeaky clean," blah-blah-blah. Like, I imagine, their opinion means zilch, anyway...Even the Amazon reviewer seems to've missed the joke. But the material you chose on this CD, just like the material Richard Cheese chooses (WHEW! Alliteration there!), and like the late, great Big Daddy chose, just simply BEGS for..."reinterpretation." Go for it, Dudesicle, and I wonder just how many "hip" people know that Ozzy and his progeny called you the perfect next door neighbor? Truth is, YOUR presence on "The Osbourne Family Album" kind of...well...exposes LAME, LAME stuff "Slowhand's" "Wonderful Tonight" or Lennon's "Imagine." Sometimes some "artistes" NEED to have their self-righteous bubbles popped.

Boone shows he's not just a humorless old bastard with this one. He pokes fun at metal and himself by taking on this collection of metal tunes, and redoing them his way. The songs range from the silly (Panama) to the morose (Love Hurts), but Pat's in top form throughout. Even better is that Pat keeps most of the sex and drug references throughout the songs intact.

I remember when this disc first came out, and Boone showed up at the Grammys in the leather-and-spikes getup he wears on the CD cover. I never laughed so hard as I did seeing that--at least, not until I actually heard the CD. It's absolutely hilarious, and even when the novelty's worn off, there's some good, solid music that even this metalhead can appreciate.

Magnificent.

"And lo, there shall come near the End Time, a Man of God who shall give up his Faith and his Flock and venture into the denizens of sin and debasement and shall be heard to sing the songs of the Fallen and Wicked. And when this comes to pass, heed ye that the world will have only two more cubits until the End of Time is nigh!" All in all, though, this is a great disc to put beside your Spinal Tap, although perhaps not worth the NEW price.