Customer Reviews

Ready for This?

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tim Minchin is a rare sort of individual. On paper it's difficult to figure out just what to make of him: is he a musical comedian, or a comedic musician? The truth is that he effortlessly combines the two disciplines, and the resulting performance is greater than the sum of its parts.

Minchin's humor can be at times acerbic, but he's capable of injecting an element of poignancy into even the most brutally cynical song. This album highlights some of his more popular work; his songs here range from rapid-fire, almost rap-like rhyming to drop dead simple refrains, and he readily wanders between musical genres.

One gets the sense that Minchin is a very thoughtful individual, and that he has a deep respect for logic. I believe him to be at his best when he's poking fun at commonly held, irrational quirks of human nature like religion or love, and I think he's got several great examples of this on this album (such as "The Good Book" or "If I Didn't Have You").

Not every track here is a winner, though. When Minchin strays away from big subjects, he comes across as less thoughtful and sometimes a bit ridiculous ("Bears Don't Dig on Dancing", I'm looking at you). Even buried in the goofball songs, though, you can appreciate Minchin's clever turns of phrases and absolute utter disregard for meeting musical expectations.

Bottom line: if you're looking for some clever musical humor, I think Minchin's one of the best there is right now. It's a rather sparsely populated niche, but Minchin surely fills it nicely.

Tim Minchin is by far one of the wittiest and most talented musicians I've heard...and his stuff is very hard to come by. Fortunately, this download showcases some of Minchin's best stuff, ranging over several styles. The common thread running through all of Minchin's work are his sharp, clever lyrics that can surprise you, turning on a dime from whimsical to poignant. If you don't have a sense of humor about things religious or theological, and don't possess an otherwise open mind, this might not be your thing. But for those of us of a more skeptical and irreverant bent, this album is pure gold. And "White Wine in the Sun" now stands alone as an all-time favorite Christmas song. And like Minchin, I quite LIKE other Christmas songs (see my review of Midwinter Night's Dream (Dig) as evidence) to begin with.

I can't praise "Ready for This?" enough. It's one of the few albums I play over and over in its entirety rather than just downloading a couple of favorite songs.

If you could only get one song from this collection, White Wine in the Sun would be well worth the price of the whole CD. It's a new Christmas classic and it's already in my playlist for next Christmas morning. But there's so many other gems in this as well. I burst into Canvas Bags at the drop of a hat. My only complaint is the lack of more collections I could buy.

I've always liked "Storm" and then saw Tim on Craig Ferguson singing, "If I Didn't Have You". That did it, I decided I had to have his music on my MP3 player.

"White Wine in the Sun" is definitely a wonderful Christmas song.

wonderful!
thought provoking, courageous, and intelligent humor with an edge. saw him in Perth, WA, Australia, his home town, with the WASO this last month, superb! you like your humor to inform and to bite, he's your man! talent and conscience! good on him!

Tim Minchin is one of my favourite artists. He's talented, funny, and puts religion and other BS in its place. My favourites from this album are "I Love Jesus," "The Good Book," "Storm," and "White Wine in the Sun."

It's really a shame that Amazon doesn't sell more of Minchin's music. He's really a unique talent and I have everything he's done that I can lay my hands on here in the US.

By the way, if you like Tim, you might also like Greydon Square and Bo Burnham.

Love Tim Minchin. Listen to this album daily! He is going to be huge. Wish I could get his other cds on mp3 download.

great CD(not sure that's the right word as I downloaded it?)I had seen a few songs on you tube and have been very pleased with the album. Very catchy and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. I had to stop myself from sing canvas bag at work. Please release more soon. Kthxbye

This CD is absolutely amazing. It is worth it for one song and one song only, "White Wine in the Sun", but you will love all of the songs. Tim Minchin is hilarious AND talented- what more could you ask for?