Customer Reviews

Roundworm

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

 

 

Gosh, where to start?

First the caveat, and it really isn't much of one at all:
If you've never heard of filk before, or aren't much into SF or Roleplaying Games, then you may not quite get *all* the gags that are packed into Bob Kanefsky's wicked lyrics. In which case, don't worry, because the music is splendid, and as long as you at least know *any* of the following snippets of information:

- What a cat is (and roughly what shape it should be);
- What a space shuttle is;
- Who Mr Spock is;
- Where you would normally find a "mage" and a "cleric" in the same sentence;
- Which part of Rudolf the Reindeer is commonly reputed to reflect light in the low frequency end of the visible spectrum;
- how clean a *normal* kitchen is kept;

...then you'll find plenty to giggle or groan about on this album.

The tunes are all stolen from songs that really deserve much better exposure in their own right. To add insult to injury, these tunes are in some cases force-fed back to their original owners with Kanef's new lyrics attached, and the victims are then ensnared into performing the new version!

Now, this could have been done as a "cheap laughs" album, with just a few guitars round a stereo mike on a free afternoon in somebody's living room, and still been great fun, but no: These are all top-notch studio recordings of top-notch performances. As a result, the album also serves as a handy introduction to some of the performing talent that lies largely undiscovered in the filk community. Once you've heard Heather Alexander's voice here, you'll want to buy her album "Insh'Allah - The Music of Lion's Blood" (avaliable right here on Amazon). Once you've heard Ookla the Mok here, you have as much of an idea as any total unsupecting innocent does of what to expect of their albums and concerts. I'd never heard of Leigh Ann Hussey and her band Annwn (pronounced "Ah-noon", apparently) before this album.

"Roundworm" is the first Bob Kanefsky album on CD - A logical follower to the earlier "Tapeworm", which was released on a wax cylinder. Oops, sorry, I mean a tape. [FEEBLE GRIN]

(Note to Amazon: Have I hit a thousand words yet?

And why can't we get any of this wonderful stuff through the *UK* Amazon site, hmmm....? )

I found this CD while looking for other works of Heather Alexander, whose song 'March of Cambrearth,' from the cover of a John Ringo book, merits its own link on my desktop. I first listened to RoundWorm on a long morning trip and arrived at the offices waving the case and hunting down my favorite programmer to make him listen to 'God Wrote in LISP.' I already know all the words to all the songs, and they crack me up every time. I share it with the more twisted of my friends.

Bob Kanefsky is a brilliant lyricist, but doesn't perform. Luckily, he has friends who do, and do it well. Singing, instrumentation, and production are all first rate. My favorite moment is Annwn tearing into a parody of their own song, Red Queen, joyfully singing the line, "And the worms crawl in, and the worms crawl out..."