Customer Reviews

Polkas for a Gloomy World

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This CD is a bit much for "standard" polka lovers like me, who usually go for Frankie Yankovic, Eddie Blazonczyk, Joey Miskulin, etc. Everybody performs "In Heaven There is No Beer", with some even adding "in heaven there is no wine, so we drink till we feel fine". But "in heaven there are no drugs, that's why we hang with thugs"? Hmm. Also on this CD are several traditional polkas played at breakneck speed, and a few waltzes and Tex-Mex numbers. It's the Dr. Demento of polkas. Try it, you'll like it.

This is as good as it gets! Whimsical, yet musically adept, Brave Combo is one of the most enjoyable bands I know (both on record and especially on stage). If this music doesn't bring a smile to your face, then you must be an inanimate object! Your entire body responds to this music - supremely played dance and smile music. We have ALL of Brave Combo's albums - they are all wonderful. But, this is the favorite - it gets alot of airplay around the house - always elevating the mood and prompting uncontrollable and spontaneous outbursts of euphoria, dancing and rampant happiness. Get this one - your spirit and your feet will thank you every day. Thank you Brave Combo!

Great fun! If you ask me, the title and cover art alone are worth the price of admission to this collection of polkas and waltzes in a variety of styles. Even the few slow tempo songs are delightful and well-done, and help you appreciate even more the frenetic pace of the uptempo numbers. Personally, I think they do better with the European-based material than with the Tex-Mex. Despite their home state (Texas), there are many other bands that perform that material better. But the arrangements, the energy, musical expertise, and ability to shift gears to different styles but still put their own stamp on the European tracks are seering and enervating. Brave Combo takes charts that are very difficult to play and make them sound easy. Highly recommended.

If you didn't already think so, this album will convine you that polkas are FUN. Just like swing music, Irish jigs, and driving rock-and-roll, you just have to move your feet when Hosa Dyna gets going on the first cut. The merging of European and Mexican influences makes this a showcase for what makes polka music enjoyable irrespective of cultural origins. Some of the album is outright, straight-ahead, pedal to the metal polka (Potato Chip); some is a little odd ("Mystery Spot"); some is just for fun ("Flying Saucer"). Throw in one of the most beautiful waltzes ("Breslau") that you'd ever want to hear, and you'll play this over and over to cheer up your gloomy world.

Never have I wanted to listen to polka. After too many bad weading experiences, I swore it off. After listening to this album, and then continuing to buy more Brave Combo. There is no record collection complete without this album. Regardless of taste and styles, this will fitt in just fine. Very enjoyable after listening to it for 6 years.

I've been greatly surprised when I first listen to this CD. It contains great polka songs from all over the world. It's a great introduction to the wonderful world of polka!

This is the first album I have bought by Brave Combo and it certainly did not disappoint! Coming from a more traditional Chicago and Slovenian style Polka background, I wasn't sure how well I'd like a group like Brave Combo, but that was shattered with the first few notes of Hosa Dyna. I knew I'd heard the song before, but I couldn't remember where. A few weeks later, I discovered the same song going by the title "Od Krakowa Jade" and recorded by Li'l Wally in the mid 1940's. I never thought I'd hear this song done effectively with a Rock and Roll energy, but Brave Combo pulled it off without a hitch. The incredible thing about this band is that they can introduce such a modern energy and Alternative style diversity to a musical form like the Polka. Every song on the disk is a little different, but they all quickly became my favorites. This is a disk that will grow on you the more you play it. I can't think of a single reason not to recommend it most enthusiastically.

Since a very long time I am an admirer of folkmusic and have plenty of it on records and cd's. I am really glad that I ordered this gloomy world disc. It is fantastic, from the first till the last track it keeps my mood up. I played it over and over from the moment it came into my house.
Listen to it and love it
Jaap Cost Budde, Holland

If you think of polka as being old, boring music commonly used in TV commercials in order to associate something with terminal unhipness, this record is a real eye [and ear] opener. Several styles are explored here, all done with Brave Combo's usual unuusal interpretation. This is probably one of my favorite albums, period, and I always reach for it to get myself out of a sour mood.

If you suffer from ennui or angst, and want to stay that way, then do not -- I repeat, do not -- listen to this or any other Brave Combo album.

These boys have big hearts, big minds, and serious musical chops. Who among us would not be moved by the wistful desire to be visited by the extraordinary/extraterrestrial expressed in "Flying Saucer"? What visitor to a vortex (a.k.a. mystery spot), where the laws of nature are suspended, would not be blissed out by the exquisitely mind-boggling "Mystery Spot Polka"? What mortal feet could resist the temptation to join in the eternal Hokey Pokey that is life all the way through this recording?

I own relatively few albums, but possess everything ever recorded by these modern-day gods from Denton, Texas. Cheaper than Prozac and infinitely more effective. The only known side effect is pure joy!