Mosquitos

Stan Ridgway | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Gold Line Sp.
• ASIN: B000000OYY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #264,968 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Mission in Life", alone, is worth the price of admission., January 23, 2002

By 

Mike (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mosquitos (Audio CD)

I have had this cd for years and it is always a pleasure to revisit. I'm not going to grab the cd and start reviewing song by song. I am not writing this from the context of all the prior reviews; just straight from the hip. Maybe I'll grab the cd one day and bang out a "real" review.

Like I suppose is true for some others who have grown to be ardent Stan fans, I discovered this cd by accident - 12 years ago in my case. Sure I had heard of Wall of Voodoo and I owned "Call of the West". "COTW" is lot of fun and also highly recommended -4 stars would be my score, with Mosquitos scoring 5. Maybe because the music on Mosquitos seems a bit more timeless and thoughtful, while Wall of Voodoo is more of that early 80's moment - great moment though it was.

I thought this was MY "find", a gem that I wanted to share with others, a gem I wasn't hearing on the radio.

Fortunately, a good many people felt the same way. The album got a lot of good exposure from positive critical acclaim and from the strong word of mouth from those who owned this masterpiece. Some of the more adventurous radio stations even played it.

Stan's work here is both dark and uplifting; funny and bittersweet. I would compare it to a smart, witty drama - the kind that isn't for everyone in the way a "Memento", "Local Hero" or a Woody Allen, Robert Altman or David Lynch movie can be. Stan's music and this cd should be heard by more people. It is accessible. And it is smart. Liken it to an adult film (not THAT kind) such as Gosford Park versus the vacuous "popular" drivel of Pearl Harbor/Armageddon-type movies. Cinema is an apt metaphor for songs/stories from Stan whose music/lyrics are oft cited as cinematic/noirish. Though, staying on this film tack, Stan's music might be better characterized cinematically as Gosford Park/Altman-type sensibility crossed with Repo Man crossed with a bit of Local Hero mixed in with a bit of Groucho Marx. Film examples aside (again Stan's music brings me to analogies related to film for some reason - listen to Mosquitos and you'll hear why), Stan Ridgway's music is not as well known because it is a bit deeper, a bit smarter than lowest-common-denominator. What a musical oasis provided as it was released during the Motley Crue/Poison/Ratt era of rock music.

So what if "everyone" has not discovered the unique brilliance of Stan Ridgway and what I, and many others, consider his masterpiece, "Mosquitos"; it doesn't mean YOU can't!

If you like Tom Waitts, John Prine, Springsteen, Van Morrison, Joe Strummer, Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan and the like, then add this to your music collection and enjoy. Mosquitos is one of the best albums of the 80's and still sounds great today. Listen and you will hear why it is appropriate to include this Stan Ridgway work with the stellar group of musicians/songwriters mentioned above. Those artists are vital and so is the music of Stan Ridgway.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great lost albums..., August 25, 2005

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mosquitos (Audio CD)

Many of America's best songwriters never get even a smidge of what they deserve. One of these, Stan Ridgway, sadly wallows in relative obscurity while performers with .00001 of the talent and skill bask in fame and fortune. Why this continually happens remains one of the music industry's greatest unsolvable mysteries. Some of the greatest albums ever recorded just somehow fall between the cracks. "Mosquitos" is one of these great lost albums. But don't look for it on critics' top 100 lists or even "sleepers of the 1980s" lists. The thing just plain disappeared from view.

As many know, Ridgway started out in the late 1970s/early 1980s with the now cult band "Wall Of Voodoo" (no, he didn't write "Mexican Radio" but he sang it brilliantly). He left the band after things started to get crazy (and apparently the record label and manager took them for nearly everything). Following 1986's "The Big Heat", Ridgway, with his drawl somewhere between Micheal Stipe and Neil Young, then made this pop music masterpiece. All albums from the 1980s should have been half this good. And it does sound like a 1980s album. But that's not a bad thing at all because Stan Ridgway made it. Doubtless Geffen groped for hit material with this one. Strangely they didn't get it; because "Mosquitos" contains some of the catchiest and most unforgettable songs of the 1980s. Just try to not sing along with "Goin' Southbound" or "Dogs". You'll fail. Try not to be moved by the seriously tongue-in-cheek "Newspapers" or the deeply poignant "A Mission in Life." You'll fail there, too. No duds mar this album. No "ehh" tracks act as mortar between "acceptable" songs. Everything shines.

Ok, so maybe some explanations exist as to why this album didn't climb the charts like Kong. It starts slow. The intense instrumental "Heat Takes A Walk" leads into the very laid back country-ish "Lonely Town". Many listeners looking for pop/dance hooks may mindlessly finger the "stop" button after hearing these two tracks. Of course after that the pace picks up with a vengeance. And the lyrics. They're neither vapid nor insipid. Some of them contain dark themes. "Goin' Southbound" follows the story of an unfolding crime, complete with death threats and corrupt police. "Dogs" refers to tombstones, death, and manglings (and contains an absolute killer horn riff). The narrator of "Peg and Pete and Me" gets hornswaggled into killing a rich man by his seductive wife. The ending isn't a happy one. "Can't Complain" tells the story of poor Bert. A piano falls on him. Ow. And "Newspapers" lampoons the entire concept of news and the strange dependency we all have on it. Even the album's title suggests a not so rosy view of human nature (just reflect on what mosquitos can represent and juxtapose that with the themes of the songs). All in all not exactly top-40 lyrical material. But all in all a great album from beginning to end that still sounds fresh years later.

Another interesting tid-bit: a then unknown Tori Amos provided backing vocals on "Dogs", "Peg and Pete and Me", and "The Last Honest Man".

Ridgway still writes, tours, and records songs. Many of his albums are as hard to find as 1989's "Mosquitos". Some have even seen re-release, but strangely not "Mosquitos". This album never received the chance it deserved. It remains bizarrely out of print. After hearing it a few times you'll likely bang your head in confusion and say "Why?"

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stan's Masterpiece, February 6, 2007

By 

Paul Mackinnon (halifax, nova scotia, canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mosquitos (Audio CD)

Hardcore fans of Stan Ridgway (all 6 of us) may disagree, but I find this to be at once Stan's most accessible, and also his best album. After the promise of "Call of the West" (his last hurrah with Wall of Voodoo), and "The Big Heat" Stan created his most beautifully melodic album, with "Mosquitos". Stan's songwriting has remained strong over the course of his entire obscure career, but here he simply seems to have found the right musical mix to complement his songwriting. His modest use of synths, harmonica, and yes, even trombones, is inspired, if not typical Stan. I disagree that this album is quintessentially 1980s - it is quintessentially ageless. There are no weak songs on this album - mainly because, finally, Stan's musical talent matched his storytelling mojo.

"The Big Heat" got me interested, and "Mosquitos" sealed the deal. No matter what Stan does from now on (and I hear "Blacktop" is great), he will always have this masterpiece under his belt.