Play With Your Head

Candy Butchers, Mike Viola | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2011)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RPM
• ASIN: B000063120
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,981 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop It Mike...Just Stop It!!, June 17, 2002

By 

sacflies (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play With Your Head (Audio CD)

Help!! Candy Butchers "Play With Your Head" has taken up permanent residence in my brain! I can't get "Play With Your Head" out of my head! My brain has been taken hostage by the sounds on this album...the songs continuously rattling around inside my head all day long. And I am occassionally heard belting out loud the words "you belong to me now" or "she let me get away with everything" at work, resulting in many curious looks from those around me. It is getting to be rather embarrassing! I need a hostage negotiator to free my brain of these wonderful tunes! Uh...on second thought...nevermind. I don't mind Mike Viola's tunes playing in my head all day.

This is one HECK of an album people. A bit on the short side at 37 minutes, but the best 37 minutes of music I have heard this year...atleast. I can't believe it has only garnered one review thus far. In a just world this stuff would be all over the airwaves...blasting out of every car window...shot into space in a time capsule...uh...maybe not that! Highlights include...well...heck...the album is one big highlight. The musical equivalent to Dominique Wilkens. The Sportscenter of albums.

Play With Your Head...get it and let it play with yours.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's No Sophomore Slump Here!!!, March 15, 2002

By 

Erik J. Fortmeyer "beerisjoy" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Play With Your Head (Audio CD)

Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers live! It's been two and a half years since the debut release of "Falling Into Place" and the wait has been WORTH IT!

The album cover to "Play With Your Head" shows Mike Viola sitting alone in a movie theatre looking at the screen showing the names of the tracks to this album. It is very appropriate. Pete Donnelly plays bass and Michael Levesque bangs on the drums but, this CD is basically Mike Viola's baby. He wrote, produced, sang, and played the excellent guitars on this eleven track 37 minute offering. By the time I was halfway through a second listen to the whole CD, I could tell this CD was a keeper!

I was a fan of New Wave back in the early 1980s, before it became trendy, and took a liking to the work of Graham Parker. Mike's singing voice and inflections are noticeably similar so, this gave me a slightly favorable bias initially. There are plenty of great hooks all over (reminds me a little of the Strokes) and it is quite obvious that these guys are pretty decent musicians. "Ruby's Got A Big Idea" has 'hit song' written all over it! It is infectious, full of great harmonies, fun, and distinctive while timing in at just over three minutes. "Tough Hang" could easily be a fine single as well. The lyrics to all songs are included and worth reading. Mike is quite good with the pen as well reminding me some of Elvis Costello and early Talking Heads. The sad Elvis ambiance is heard most in the near accoustic "Make No Mistake" lamenting disappointment in a selfish friend. "All eyes are fixed on you; Fade in your past crashes in waves on the lawn; Fade out your last laugh lasts a little too long; In your contract there's a clause so you better save your applause; When I play; Make no mistake". Shades of David Gray can also be heard on "Call Off the Dogs". Don't let these allusions to other musicians mislead you though. They are only reference points for the newcomer. The Candy Butchers have their own sound; they are no cover band that happens to be putting out original muzak. And they have a FUTURE!

Definitely give this CD a try. The first play will need another before it really begins to sink positively into you. After that, you will be hooked! Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Listen to this album more than once!, July 31, 2002

By 

"nickllove" (Nowhere Land USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play With Your Head (Audio CD)

I admit, I bought this album because the comparisons to Elvis Costello, the Beatles, and Brian Wilson. Basically any album that illicits comparison to Brian I am sure to buy. The first time I listened to this album all the way through I was a little dissappointed. Consistent, yes, but nothing stuck out. The voice (his voice is one that every singer would walk on fire for) immediately impressed, of course, but the songwriting was weaker than expected and the album sounds as if made on a shoestring budget. Not in sound quality, but in that it seems as though he had more costly ideas than his label was willing to give in to. I was reading the next day though and the CD was still in my player, so out of sheer laziness I put it on again. This time the songs stuck. Each track revealed itself to be complex and intelligent, particularly in the lyrics. I would have to say every time I listen it gets better and better. It's also refreshing to hear someone with a retro vibe who does not utterly give into to sixties experimentation and pretensions. I would recommend this to any fan of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and any modern power pop music.