Customer Reviews

So Lo

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Oingo Boingo fans take note; this is really a lost Oingo Boingo album, and an excellent one. This is not Danny's classical style soundtrack stuff; here he sounds just like when with Boingo, dark, punchy and rhythmic. This is Goth music to a rocking dance beat. Elfman was once a true original; there never has been another band like Boingo, then or now. If you like your music lively and your lyrics wry and twisted just push that buy button, you will not be disappointed. All tracks are excellent, especially `Gratitude', `Cool City' and `Sucker For Mystery'.

This album is perhaps a more concentrated dose of the Oingo Boingo sound than any other I can think of - it's, for lack of a better word, weirder than most of their albums... which is not to say that Oingo Boingo usually sound "normal", but just to say that people who don't like Oingo Boingo REALLY don't like this album. People who are into that catchy, frenetic kind of edgy 80s pop (myself included), on the other hand, will absolutely adore this album. It's an incredible piece of work, with no particularly weak tracks and several standouts. I only refrain from giving it 5 stars because that perfect rating is deserved ever so slightly more by other albums in the Boingo canon such as the eponymous Boingo or Dead Man's Party.

After 1983's Good For Your Soul, Danny Elfman found time to record So-Lo in 1984. It's an interesting deviation from Oingo Boingo's exotic style, but not a long shot from it. The hooks on So-Lo are relatively simple and contain much more treble and sometimes ambient (Go Away) sound than anything by Boingo.

Everybody Needs and Cool City are among of the albums finer points. This album is only Danny Elfman in name, since OB is completely present here. Undeservedly panned by Critics, So-Lo will mostly strike a chord with hard corps Boingo fans / New Wave fans.

Oingo Boingo, tired of their label, IRS, wanted to go to MCA, but they were contractually obligated to do any new "Oingo Boingo" albums on IRS. So they used a loophole and came out with a "solo" Danny Elfman album. This was pretty thinly veiled and IRS cut them loose and they signed with MCA. But as much as it got them free, this really is the "forgotten" Oingo Boingo album since it was seen as a Danny Elfman side project.

As Oingo Boingo was compiled into greatest hits, a few of these tracks were included because everyone understood that these weren't really solo. "Gratitude" is a classic Oingo Boingo track and "Only Makes Me Laugh" was later redone on Boingo Alive.

So if you don't have it and are an Oingo Boingo fan, what are you waiting for??? I am particularly fond of "Cool City", and the version of "Only Makes Me Laugh" is interesting to hear after all the years of Boingo Alive.

as usual any thing danny elfman does is great. this album is like oingo boingos stuff but it is his solo album i actually got this on record when it first came out years ago. definatley and must have for the oingo boingo fan or anyone at that matter it is a awesome album. order it today you wont be unhappy with it i will have to since i dont have my record player any more and have been wanting to hear it. danny elfman kicks butt again!!!!!!!

I won't repeat other reviewers comments except to say that this album does fit nicely in the middle of the Oingo Boingo canon, right between the fabulously fun and raw Nothing To Fear and its equally fun successor Good For Your Soul. So-Lo is very much an Oingo Boing album--produced by Elfman and OB guitarist Steve Bartek, and featuring Bartek, Vatos Hernandez and the rest of the Nothing To Fear OB lineup on all songs--and has some truly standout tracks, and not just the minor hits "Gratitude" (long one of my favorite OB tunes) and "It Only Makes Me Laugh". "Tough As Nails" is a steering-wheel-tapping funky mix of brass and guitar interplay with Elfman's cynical observations of a self-centered social stud, while "Go Away" is fun, lively and poignant all at the same time. "Cool City", "Lightning" and "Last Time" also stand tall, though I would categorize the remaining tracks I haven't mentioned as b-side material. Nevertheless, So-Lo is an enjoyable listen for those familiar with Oingo Boingo--truly an underappreciated band both for their hybrid style and their excellent musicianship (and NOT merely "the band Danny Elfman was in before he started writing soundtracks")--and an absolute must for fans as it fits in what I believe is the band's creative and musical height (and Elfman's popular music height) of the mid-80s...Now you just have to find a copy!

My introduction to Oingo Boingo was a roommate singing snippets from "Lightning" on So-Lo, and after hearing the real thing, I was hooked. Although I consider all the early Boingo to be outstanding, So-Lo is just a little _more_ special. (I also like almost all the later Boingo, but the early albums are decidedly different.)

One great thing about Oingo Boingo has always been the "boinging" music together with non-trivial lyrics, and this album fits the bill perfectly. "Gratitude" is an incredibly catchy song, "Cool City" will be appreciated by anyone who's lived in L.A. for any significant time, and "Sucker for Mystery" is just simultaneously dark and cool. To me, the remaining songs are all second-favorites, but not a one should be missed.

The ONLY complaint I might have about the CD (at least my CD) is that the spoken words in the middle of "Gratitude" that you hear on the vinyl are missing, leaving a curious few-second lull. Me, I just fill it in from memory :-)

Very entertaining album by the whole band (not just Danny).
Note that it's not a soundtrack at all; for all intents & purposes, it is a full-on Oingo Boingo album, albeit perhaps less raucous than their output at the time.
The songs are, for the most-part, all up to snuff circa "Good For Your Soul".... although at times the cheap 80's synth-sound does seem to have aged badly. "The Last Time" and "Gratitude" are both class, excellent songs which would have fit nicely on "G.F.Y.S.", and a few other tracks ("Only Makes Me Laugh", "Cool City") just prove how incredibly diverse the band were, able to adapt almost any musical genre to suit their sound.
It won't necessarily replace any of your O.B.-output, but "So-Lo" is certainly worth having to complete your collection.

This is definitely the "lost" Oingo Boingo album...it makes more sense when you realize it was the album in between "Good for your soul" and "Dead Man's Party" - it's kind of the buffer between their transition that would have made it seem less drastic. Let's face it, Boingo-ites, when you first heard "Dead Man's Party", you knew they were taking a turn towards bigger production and a slicker sound. "So-Lo" has touches of the mid-80's keyboard fueled production combined with the classic Oingo grunge of their earlier efforts. "Gratitude" is a great tune, and it keeps you bopping the whole time you bounce to it. "It only makes me laugh" is brilliant story of self-pity, both lyrically and musically, a true bit of circus-pop. But it is the perfect "The last time" that is one of Danny's best songs ever. Pay attention to the lyrics about the struggle of an on-again, off-again relationship. For those that have been there, it cuts even deeper. Some of the tracks meander a bit, and the production is less than spectacular on others. I wonder how this would sound if it was remastered? Danny, we miss your songs...Also one more thing....this CD contains an altered version of "Gratitude" - I prefer the one on the LP I bought when it came out. It's slightly longer, and sounds cleaner (to me).

One of the better solo albums I have heard. It isn't too different from original Boingo.