Customer Reviews

Totally Lost

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

 

 

This, the Young Fresh Fellow's 4th studio recording (circa 1988), is probably their 5th best album, after the first 3 and This One's For The Ladies. It's still a great album, but it's a little less creative, playful, fun, exuberent and, well, interesting, than their earlier work. As the band admitted in the original LP liner notes, success hadn't hit, they were still holding onto their day jobs ("we have our degrees to fall back on") and about to go through a roster change (original guitarist Chuck Carroll would leave to be replaced by the Fastbacks' Kurt Bloch). If not Totally Lost, they were definitely searching, and some of them were racing into their 30s when they made this. It shows.

This is a solid record, anything with 7 great songs on it is usually 4 or 5 more great songs than most other.... Anyway, my point is, of the 15 tunes 1/2 are really good and to me that's worthy of making note, think of it as a world class EP and skip the 3 or 4 songs that don't do it for you.

Keep in mind, it's hard to find music in the style anymore, kinda like the Byrds with a sense of humor, maybe that's not a good description but you'll see what I mean when you buy it, and you will buy it.

This is probably the weakest of the Young Fresh Fellows' albums. That's not to say that's it's a total dud all the way through; there are plenty of songs to like. "Celebration," "You're Not Supposed To Laugh," and the theme song all rank among the Fellows' best work, and "The Universal Trendsetter" and "I'd Say That You Were Upset" exemplify the kind of humor that was so pervasive on the band's earlier albums. Many of the tracks on here just don't grab me, however. Some are fairly boring, and others are noisy without saying much. That's not to say that you won't like them (they've been growing on me), but this probably shouldn't be your introduction to the wonderful world of the Young Fresh Fellows. Get it after you're familiar with the group's better work.

This is the first Young Fresh Fellows CD I've bought, and I love it. If this is their worst CD, I can't wait to see what the other ones are like.

Who would really rate the Fellows but their fans? And you read the reviews and we're all basically saying the same thing: you should have it because the Fellows rock, but in the grand scheme of things, all their other albums are better. I would suggest This One's For The Ladies, or any one of their other albums. But pick this up eventually, because the Fellows guarantee a smile, even when they have songs like "Take My Brain Away" on them. You will never see a better live show than the Fellows. I can only hope you already own a few better records.