Statutory Grape

Sissy Bar

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 16, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sugar Fix Recordings
• ASIN: B000008A5A
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #419,699 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Wily

2. Sno-Cave

3. Bald Man Be Free

4. Trailer Song

5. Magic Bunny

6. Why? (The Bowling Song)

7. Gin and Juice

8. Sad II Say

9. Punk Fries

10. Bellman

11. Pear Shaped Girl

12. Do It!

13. Drunk Luv

14. Jackie

15. Kra-Z Weed

16. Driftwood Collection

17. (Our Pet Is...) Happy Pet

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Cuddlecore? That's like so 1994, isn't it? Apparently not in Silver Lake, the L.A. neighborhood that spawned the six-piece girl band Sissy Bar. The group, in fact, is about as cuddly as a $7,000 Tickle Me Elmo doll. And unless you've already had your fill of plastic-flower-barrette hairstyles and Judy Blume flashbacks, chances are you'll find something warm and endearing about Sissy Bar's debut album, Statutory Grape.

Just about everything having to do with Sissy Bar is so damn cute you can't decide whether to hug them or slap them silly. The voices are girly and angelic, the lyrics childlike. Synths blip and bleep like toys, while the banjo adds a playful down-home touch. Mix all this together with some clangy pop/punk-style bass, guitar, and drums, and you've got a group that combines the most precious elements of Beat Happening, Jonathan Richman, the B-52s, and L.A.'s that dog.

The songs on Statutory Grape mostly run the gamut of sixth-grade experience. "Magic Bunny" investigates the mystical powers of stuffed animals. "Sad II Say" revisits the tragic story of how unicorns disappeared from the earth. "Why? (The Bowling Ball Song)" confronts the problem of people who borrow things and don't give them back. The faux earnestness works best when it's most overstated ("The Bellman"'s bizarre humor), but fails when it's least believable (their Jackie Collins tribute). At their most over-the-top, Sissy Bar succeed in turning Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Gin and Juice" into irresistible indie-pop. You haven't experienced gangsta rap until you've heard the girly voice of lead singer Joy sweetly cooing, "I've got bitches in the living room getting it on." Kids these days, I tell ya. --Roni Sarig

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lo-Fi Snoop Doggie Dogg? Ya gotta get it!, January 14, 1999

By A Customer

Musically, very similar to the first Rentals album. Vocally, very cute girl punk(ish) stuff. Lyrically, hillarious. Overall, wonderful when you just don't know what else to put on. This is the musical epitome of Los Angeles for those who get the joke. Though the lyrics are very funny, them music is very well written and (kind of well) performed. But the capper is "Gin and Juice." You don't get much funnier than that. Not to mention "Pear Shaped Girl" and the ever poigniant and truthful "Punk Fries." Buy it! Make them make another album!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not genius, but it's damn funny, December 30, 1998

By	Erik Blood "shizzam" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're looking for a CD that you can listen to with friends and be able to stop everything to say "What did she just say?" thus spawning a new phrase that will reverberate through you circle's vocabulary, this is the disk.

And just to hear their cover of Snoop Doggy Dog's Gin and Juice is worth the price of the whole disk. Pick it up.