Customer Reviews

Power of Pussy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is not as serene as "Too Much Sleep", but it is equally diverse and creative. Many of the tracks invovle spoken lyrics, and their musical accompaniment is generally very good. The lyrics themselves carry the typical Magnusen wit and intelligence. Many expound upon very honest feminist ideas, or at least are honest commentaries on the conundrums facing women today. Others are just plain funny. A good addition to a "very alternative" pop collection.

Bongwater came about at the weong time, or maybe it was the perfect time and we are not ready for them yet. This is, I feel, their best effort, but really, you should go out and get everything they have done. This is music to listen to while staring at a wall, dancing on a table, or eating fresh fruit. In short: this is perfect music.

This is the funnest album you will ever hear! I have all Bongwaters CD's as well as Magnuson's solo effort but this takes the cake! So invite the funnest friends you have, make a pitcher of margaritas and break out this CD. They'll love you for it.

This is an incredibly varied album, sometimes hysterically funny as on the title track, but always cerebral, thought-provoking and strangely captivating. It's awash with clever samples that definitely contribute to the ambience and the weirdness.

There are gentle ballads like Great Radio, What If and their cover of Kisses Sweeter Than Wine. Chicken Pussy is a bizarre sound collage with hilarious spoken lyrics while White Rental Car Blues sounds like a sweet soul song if you ignore the suggestive lyrics.

Nick Cave Dolls starts with those weird samples, a guy talking about the name of the band plus random snatches of conversation and noise, before Ann's wistful voice takes up a surrealistic tale of a stroll through the city while sending up a variety of stereotypes.

On Bedazzled she turns into Marlene Dietrich or similar European sultry chanteuse in a conversation/talk and response format with the other voices. The next one, Obscene & Pornographic Art, is a literate and witty observation of a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art that'll have you in stitches, especially the "suffragette song" segment.

A robotic, laconic male vocal narrates the tale of a visit to a strange game room over ominous warbling guitar sounds on What Kind Of Man Reads Playboy, while Junior kicks off with raucous guitar and turns into a love song with Ann's dreamy vocalising which also graces the wall-of-sound rock song Connie. The reference to "four wild Rednecks" at the start of I Need A New Tape raises a smile.

This amazing album's tour de force is the astonishing Folk Song, all 9+ minutes of it, where her voice really soars. It deals with inter alia anarchists, sexual politics, media networks, the Butthole Surfers, Giorgio Armani, Romeo Gigli and refers to anthropologist Joseph Campbell in this most beautiful chorus: "Joseph Campbell gave me hope and now I have been saved/So I sing hello death, goodbye Avenue A."

As the song progresses, Ann sings abut health food, Dr Suess, religion, TV series, movies, politics, taking mushrooms at Joshua Tree where Gram Parsons died, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Carlos Castaneda, Led Zeppelin, the feelgood movie of the decade and many other things, before ending with those beautiful lines again: "Hello death, goodbye Avenue A." Phew! Not many songs in the history of popular music can encompass so many things and still remain cohesive.

This is one of the most intelligent rock albums I've ever had the pleasure of hearing, brimful with melodic twists and turns, with gripping lyrics, brilliant instrumentation and vivid imagery. I know Ann Magnuson is now a successful actress, but I'm surprised she's not a famous author too, judging by her talent for satire and moving imagery.

This is one of the best things to come down the pike since Oysterettes! Buy it. Buy it, now.

Adopt a dog and force him or her to listen to it. The small animal will lick you for it.

Crazy, crazy, crazy...fun, fun, funny folk meets artsy rock n' roll and some kind of experimental whoknowswhat!!!! Great album, female singer, great lyrics, lots of humour....buy this dudes!!

When I first bought this album I immediately liked folksong but grew to love the entire album. It is not your average (radio) listenting so dont plan on just throwing it on for just any company. This album defintely grows on you. Its great to listen to while driving alone and noone is around to bother you. I am getting ready to purchase the box set of thier music right now.