Customer Reviews

Red-Eyed Soul

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

 

 

If you are a fan of them, you should not even be reading reviews -- buy this CD, your troubles will disappear.

If you are not a fan, and have stumbled here unwittingly -- this is most certainly a good place to start. Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater still is my favorite, and to kick off the record with it was a very wise decision. Actually, the first four tracks are exceedingly accessible, or at least as accessible as you can ever expect accordions and anarchists to be. If you can stay for Let's Steal Everything and Annie the Imaginary Lawyer, then you're set.

The one downside of this record is that if you have either the Speak of Brave Men EP or the Me V. Angry Mob EP (which is basically the Speak of Brave Men EP + three extra tracks), you will be hearing some familiar tunes. Never fear -- not only are they great and worth the repetition, but they even re-recorded the title track off Me V. Angry Mob, and extra versions never hurt anyone. Plus, if you don't own those EPs, now you don't have to. Of course, you'd be missing out on Cats Are Not Lucky Creatures and Leni Riefenstahl At The End of Time (These long names are making my review unwieldy), so perhaps you do need to pick up the latter EP, even though it appears to be out of print.

I have to say it -- you must buy this, or I'm comin' to your house to punch you in the mouth.

Although not an "infernite" (I feel a certain unease about that mentality sometimes, at least as portrayed by the self-proclaimed infernites around here)as the term has come to mean, I find myself humming world/inferno songs all the time. It has been this way for a while now. Just The Best Party is possibly in my top 5 favorite albums ever. East Coast... and True Story.. have had some solid songs as well. However, with this new release, I feel that jack and the gang have "mellowed out" a bit.

If you don't already know, you must be aware that w/i f.s. can consume you and take over your life if you let. It's a force. Wild, reckless abandon, with a belly full of cheap wine. Top it off with a strange, evil twisted sense of humor masked by innocent playfulness. Oh - and a clarinet, saxophone, strings AND accordion, in addition to the more typical breed of punk rock mischief making guitars and basses. This is the intensity of the inferno.

That intensity is just not as consistent as on prior releases, hold a few golden moments such as "let's steal everything," "fiend in wien," "brother of the mayor...," and "me vs. angry mob." The other songs are by no means bad, they just do not live up to my expectation of how I should feel listening to the inferno!

A solid album nonetheless, and probably a very good starting point for someone getting into the band.


Oh, by the way, W/I F.S. still puts on the greatest live show EVER. Seriously, it is a party seeing the inferno. Go to the show and fall in love.

Thank you, The World Inferno Friendship Society, for putting upon this world a funhouse of proposterous rhythms I just want to dance to.
Each song is solid and irreplacable. The cd itself is a little less circusy from their previous ones, (only a little) but still incredible none the less.

One fateful night a friend of mine was going through his CD collection and picking out random CD's to play for me. One of the CD's was a World Inferno Friendship Society album. When he started playing it I couldn't believe what I was hearing: dueling accordion and guitar with a cascade of drums crashing in the background (I would find out later that they had two drummers), a cacophony of woodwinds whirling in and out of the songs, and a singer with a cocksure voice and attitude spouting devil-may-care-lyrics about getting in fights and the late actor Peter Lorre. It was then and there that I knew I needed to possess their albums.

Not too long after that fateful experience I ordered "Addicted to Bad Ideas," "Red Eyed Soul" and "Just the Best Party," and while I've been listening to all of them with an astonishing array of frequency, it's "Red Eyed Soul" that I seem to keep coming back to the most. And why not? It has the most songs on it, and it definitely showcases the band at their most chaotic, fun and eclectic best.

From album opener "Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater", to the caffeine induced "Velocity of Love," the tender ballad of use and abuse "Your Younger Man," the big band feel of "Only Anarchists Are Pretty" (I realize that might not be the right choice of words to describe this song, but it's the best I can come up with), the menacing woodwinds of "Me v. Angry Mob," lounge-esque rocker "Hothouse Flowers," "Me & the Mad Monkettes" (Quite possibly my favorite song on the album), with it's slow and sensuous beginning (With bongos), which quickly delves into pandemonium with saxophones blaring and lyrics being sung about Rod Serling serving gin and tonics all night long, "Fiend & Wien" with it's awesome accordion work, which is complimented perfectly with the drum and guitar work, to the sing-along "Jerusalem Boys," with it's orchestra bells ringing all through out, the Society don't fail to deliver, performing a little bit of something for everybody on this album.

Another review that I've read here says that with this album World Inferno has mellowed out, though I respectfully disagree. There are songs on here ("Let's Steal Everything," "Annie the Imaginary Lawyer," "Jerusalem Boys") that are definitely as fast and as furious as anything I've heard on any of their other previous albums. One thing I do concede (And I admit to never having recorded an album before), is that production wise this is their most polished album, and has the best mixing.

Anyway, if you consider yourself a music fan you really owe it to yourself to give World Inferno Friendship Society a try, and this album is a good place to start.

This is one of my favorite CDs in my collection. I enjoy World/Inferno Friendship Society a lot, so it's probably predictable for me to say that.

I almost never feel the need to skip a song on this cd- they're just all so good. The only time I do is to get to a song I feel an urge for.

All day long I hear myself lightly singing sections of the songs to myself. They're so addicting and contagious.

I am extremely satsisfied with this cd; it is a great choice and I reccommend it to everyone and anyone. It really is hard to express just how much I like it. :D