Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What A Ridiculous Party, June 6, 2001
I just happened to stumble across this new group called Action Figure Party, and what a ridiculous party it is. They are a new group with some familiar faces which include Sean Lennon, Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Yogi from Buckcherry, and many other musicians from such acts as Garbage, Incubus, Beck, Dr. Dre & Eminen, Alanis Morisette, No Doubt, and Geggy Tah. The music is upbeat, in your face, jazz, and pop-this is the best that I can describe it because it is such a new and refreshing sound. The first track "everybody ready" is an instrumental that gets the party started right with jamming jazzy funky grooves that just makes you want to get up and dance! Then the second track "Action Figure Party" explodes into a dance party with a smokin' beat, tight groove, and some of the more creative lyrics I have heard in a long time. The other ten tracks are just as equally intense and unique as the two just mentioned, but my favorite tune is with out a doubt track six-"Clock Radio." It's a great driving tune, somewhat mellow, but at the same time just really groovy. For me it's that track that the repeat button "accidentally" gets pushed more than a couple times-If you catch what I am hinting at. Overall I think this is one of the better records that have come out as of late. Its nice to see that musicians from all different genres can come together, play for the love making some really good music, and turn people such as myself on to different styles of music. A+ in my book, I can't wait to see them on tour.
|
|
|
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Join the Party, September 12, 2001
Rock? Jazz? Eventually, you ask yourself where one ends and the next begins. You might find the answer in Action Figure Party, the eponymous brainchild of Geggy Tah co-founder Greg Kurstin. Released on the Verve label, long renowned for its outstanding jazz catalog, this debut album combines elements of both genres in one of the most flawless crossover efforts since US3 raised the roof - and the bar - with "Cantaloop" in 1993. Unlike that dynamite dance cut, however, which sampled every single note from recordings within the Blue Note pantheon and then overlaid the whole with hip-hop lyrics and sensibility, Action Figure Party takes only its cues - not its identity - from the jazz greats of the past.
Reading like a guest list from the after-hours party at an alternative rock festival, this album boasts the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea, Buckcherry's Yogi on guitar, alumni of Garbage, No Doubt, Air, Soul Coughing, and, not least, Sean Lennon (cutting wax, no less). Normally, all-star casts have all-star egos with which to contend, but all seems to be in harmony on these twelve tracks, only two of which feature vocals from multi-instrumentalist Kurstin. Instead, the writer/pianist/producer chooses to share the spotlight with the bevy of outstanding talent that he has assembled, including a two-piece horn section, four drummers, five bassists, and Kurstin himself helming the operation at either the piano or an organ that sounds fresh from the ballpark. The result hovers somewhere between Medeski, Martin & Wood and Bootsy Collins on the fonk-meter.
Right from the opening cut, "Everybody Ready," which sets the tone for the entire album, Action Figure Party cuts loose a deluge of dance ready jazz licks, unaided by electronic drumbeats or rap-star cameos. The two vocal cuts, "Action Figure Party" and "Clock Radio" deliver nonsense lyrics in a manner as upbeat as the music behind them. The couple of down-tempo numbers are as well orchestrated as anything on the disc, but they lack the immediacy and vivacity of the rest of the record and are, ultimately, dismissible. The closer, "Flow," comes closest to the golden age of cool jazz (think 50's and 60's Blue Note releases), while the rest seem to meld the hot jazz of the twenties and thirties with the soul funk of the seventies. The tracks are fully realized and executed and, though arguably overproduced, they still manage to carry a spirit of improvisation in their notes. The limited use of samples (both vocal and instrumental) on the album serves the music, rather than detracting from it; no Moby-esque "look-at-the-cool-samples-I-found" showboating here, just a jazz outfit that knows how to rock. Moby's music is great for what it is, but if you want a band that bares its own soul rather than borrowing someone else's, you might be better served by this record. So the question still stands: Jazz? Rock? Where does one end and the other begin? Join the Party and find out.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fight for the groove, June 6, 2001
There are a few tracks that you can really jam to, and others such as "Clock Radio" that are wickedly catchy. Surprisingly, this album has a strange unifying sense to it, even though there are so many different genres thrown into the mix. The diversity is what the groove thrives off of, and is more than worth checking out.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really, really, good.
I listen to Joe Zawinul, Wayne Krantz, MMW, Greyboy Allstars, The Bad Plus, Vertu, Trilok Gurtu, Blue Dog, etc... GET THIS ALBUM.
Read more
Published on June 8, 2004 by skate2skool
|
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Lily Allen
~ Medeski Martin & Wood
~ Neko Case
~ Pat Metheny
~ Eliane Elias
by Action Figure Party 
