Prindle Record Reviews - Mark Prindle Huge Rock 'n' Roll Megasensation

At first it wasn't obvious that Mark was a genius. Our first date he wore a paint-splattered, dorky Ramones shirt, a black Crass cap worn backwards, and big metal glasses, style circa 1978, that he needed for driving. The whole time (or so it seemed) he extolled the virtues of Beavis & Butthead. Oh, and he insisted on eating cheap pizza for lunch.

Same goes for Mark's music. Cheapass-looking homemade Maxell tapes with photocopied covers. Production values so low it makes Sebadoh look like they recorded Freed Weed with the Dust Brothers. Totally offensive lyrics that overuse the word "poop." But somewhere within the morass (heh heh) there's something special. There's a sensitivity to tone, emotion, quality, harmony. What appears superficially to be total garbage is really the product of an obsessive perfectionist that will not let his creative focus waver - recording and re-recording until each song has the beauty, texture and balance of a Persian rug. Or until a half-hour is up, whichever comes first.

His solo album has many of the same characteristics as his work with the LuMP. There's plenty of ridiculousness and loud guitar noise, and it's unusually creative (Jesus, who would've thought to take that beeping noise that's at the beginning of old tapes and turn it into a bombastic first song?). After the initial intro, the first ditty that really strikes me is "Eddie's Dad". It's got a great guitar line and vocal stylin'. Very catchy, especially parts when certain aspects of the music fade away for a sec so you get the impact of the voice full-on. "I Ching" you gotta love for the lyrics alone. Same with "Mess", which is great. I like how the guitar is kind of a Van Halenesque electric solo noise that's treated as a background element until the end. "Fingers" is a little out of joint it seems. "Bunnies" reminds me a little too much of (the band) X, but it's my own damn fault for singing that way. I like how it transitions to the slower, quieter sound of the somehow Tom Pettyish "Dave". E-bow, I presume? Then, Mark's rather lukewarm (bastard!) response to my discussion of marriage is captured forever in the twenty second silliness of "Marriage Song". "God Rules" is very catchy. I like "Chet's Potato" in a way, although it begs for more musical avenues to be explored than simply turning the mixing knobs up and down and up and down. "I Like Those Things" is very subdued and quiet. It doesn't stick out as one of the better songs, but if you just heard it on its own it's a very pretty tune. "Go" reminds me of a nice collegiate melody that has an edge. I think this would be my choice for, say, second Hit Single from The Album. When I ponder this song further (which I have the luxury of doing because - whoa - it's over three minutes long!) it kinda makes me jealous that I can't think up something that aurally charming. "Ukuleles" is crazy-neat with the harmonics and then the noise-layering at the end. Like a barber shop quartet of quadruplets with one funny misfit saying ("tree!") at exactly the wrong moment just to be an ass. The irritating noises and vocals that comprise "Gymnasium" should be shoved in the bottom of a locker with my stinky socks somewhere and forgotten. "Sperm Whale" is famously dorky with the improvised reggae lyrics. This is where Mark's talent shines through: stupid lyrics, stupid noises, and funky beat combine to form something that makes you laugh in spite of yourself in this heartless sharp-toothed world. "Caboose" is a nice way to end things, but sorta lacks a hook. That's when side two (the better half, in my opinion) comes in to pick up the pace.

Side two greats and god-awfuls: the beautiful simplicity and bass noise(!) of "Antonio Banderas Naked", which I especially love because the song ends on a gloriously unresolved note. "Nothing" with great vocals and the kind of anthemic pseudo-meaningful gimme-gimme-indie rock lyrics that I like. This is probably my favorite song on the tape, simply because I'm such a fucking sap for that kind of stuff. "Zucchini" I could do without - especially the stupid straining-at-the-sttool sound he makes when he says the word "food!". The wonderful backwards song ("Smart People are Stupid") is absolutely frightening, such a cool noise. "Big Tummy" I like (in spite of my intense hatred of the words "tummy" and "peen") because it comes across like a sonic version of a kiddie roller coaster: smiley and fun and rhythmic rockings back and forth with no alarming surprises. "Living Vicariously" could use a little more actual music, please. And if you're gonna try the rap thing, do it right - at least try and don't just white-boy it. "Joe the Sucky" I found myself head-bobbing to. Great pounding drum noise with claps. Vocals could be mixed down a little. Especially the "fillet of poop!!" line, which could be mixed way, way down into oblivion as far as I'm concerned. "Missing" makes me cry. Is that a minor chord or something in the chorus? I really pressed for the Morrissey voice (which Jim Hull hates - but what does he know? He never had the experience of feeling real pain like only an ostracized teenage girl can.) but I love it. The comic/tragic climax with the drum-machine claps behind it just takes my limbic system and turns it inside-out and back again and makes my eyebrows do that Brandon Walsh thing. "Boring" is a fabulous follow-up, too. Hope my eyebrows don't get stuck that way. The vocals have a tad bit too much facetiousness in some parts, but hey, irony is hip these days. "Jobs" simply kicks my ass!! This goes down in history with rockin' greats like, I don't know, early M.C. Hammer stuff or something. Definitely hits the nerve of the everyman experience. "Ornette" is better than the original, and it accomplishes the goal of showing Mark to be a liberal-arts educated music historian without being all cocky about it. I just wish he would shut up in "Urine Test", though. I liked this song much better when it was about his stupid ex- girlfriend or whatever. "Jazz" has a great ominous sound and the vocal warble thing is pretty cool. "True" would be catchy if it wasn't so damn noisy. I understand it's supposed to be punk, but somehow it's just a bit much and a bit muddy. "Hurting You" is another example of a song that would be more powerful (for me) if it remained in it's original serious format. But oh god! "Trashcan"! What the hell is that great airplane noise?! And where did that voice come from?! Fucking beautiful! "Kiwi" is dear to my heart (being the first original song I've written) and would be perfect if I could carry a tune in a goddamn bulldozer. At least Mark contributes harmonically and totally deleted the worst of my vocal offenses in the final mix so it sort of ends up coming off like a charming uppity Unrest song.

Overall, this album is totally enjoyable. I think this particular musical endeavor ranks an 8. There's definitely room for improvement though, and I look forward to the next album which should reflect more experience with the equipment and effort put into the concepts. Finally, I've gotta say that all Mark's tapes are formatted like a rotating buffet counter: there's a little something to please everyone, and if you happen to run across an offering you don't really like, it doesn't matter too much because it goes away soon. And if you do like it. Well, you're in luck because he's slaving away to mass-produce more original music designed to take America by its one good ear and tweak until it falls to its knees.

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(Nick Leu reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 8

With this album, creator of this website and Low-Maintenance Perennials member Mark Prindle (Of course, you, the reader, already know this, I just put it to make it sound better. You see, I'm a mere amateur, as evidenced by this here paragraph-within-a-sentence.) goes solo, with some really cool results.

Unfortunately, a few of the songs have some ugly noise that threatens to obscure the actual tune (see "Ging Hoopy- Runnin' Fast"), so that's the reason for the loss of one of the points. The other point is missing because a few of these songs simply don't appeal to me. "I Like Those Things That I Turn To Tune My Guitar" is kinda boring, "I Can't Wear A Ponytail in Public" is inferior to it's original version on the LuMP's "Chicago XX", and "Dish Up the Zucchini, Man" is what we here call "the runt of the litter"; it has the same basic features as the other songs, but it's just not as good.

The rest of this stuff is great though! There are some wonderful remakes of LuMP songs, most of them in dire need of remaking ("Livin' It Up Like Eddie's Dad" is about 400 times better than it's original recording), and TONS of excellent all-new stuff. The new stuff is basically split between songs that wouldn't be out of place on Jurassic Park and songs that wouldn't be out of place on Chicago XX.

Also, the singing is really important to the sound of this album, which makes it a lot different than the pre-Chicago XX LuMP. Mark alternates between goofy voice put-ons and actual vocal harmonies, used to best effect on songs like "Garden of Ukuleles". The lyrics are hilarious, too (see the punky fast-food mockery "Joe the Sucky McDonald's Guy"), but you'll expect that if you've ever heard the LuMP. For the record, there are a few "serious" songs, too, the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of LuMP's Tamara's Little Sex Secret etc.. Those are really good, too.

So, in conclusion, this tape is great, and if you like the LuMP, you'll probably like this as well.

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(Nathan Brewer reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 8

I've spent a couple days with the Mark Prindle Huge Rock 'N' Roll Megasensation solo album. It wasn't quite what as I had expected it to be, but I can say I enjoy it quite a bit. It features a better layout then any LuMP album, and has printed lyrics, so if you can't hear what is being said, you can still get the humor. As for the actual songs, it seems that side 1 tends to be a bit lacking. There are a few standout moments here and there, but I got a little lost in all the noisy stuff. However, I do like how the album starts, it kind of reminds me of Death Angel's Frolic Though The Park (the computer beeping part). Side two however, is among the best of LuMP tunes. The songs seem a little more mature (well, some of them anyways), and are a lot catchier and more fun than the ones on side 1. I also like the serious songs on here, which is a rare moment, but are nice. The old remixed and remastered LuMP songs were pretty interesting to hear. I like the version of "(We) Must Have Peace And Live Together", as it sounds like Elvis is singing it. All in all, this is a pretty good album. If the first side stood alone, it would get a 6. However, the second side is much stronger and gets a high 9. Average em up and you have a 7.5, and add a half a point for making a Rob Halford reference, and you have yourself a nice shiny little 8.

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(Jim Hull reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 6

Without any interest in brevity--and definitely logic--here's my weigh-in:

Mark Prindle, believe it or not, moves closer to straight-ahead pop than ever before on this record. It's similar to the last two LuMP albums, in that it finds the sometime-LuMPer growing more confident in tackling "songs".

There are potential problems with this approach. First, it moves away (a bit) from some of the free-form, anarchic noise-core the LuMP specializes in, in favor of some more structured song forms. Second, there's a little confusion in whether the songs are meant to be taken as jokes or not.

The real "discovery" of this album is that MP shows a downright knack in writing a hooky, catchy song when he takes the time to. Having said that, this record definitely suffers from a lack of editing--much as the entire LuMP catalog does.

Good Things: Pretty good sound. The capability of the 4-track is definitely getting pushed beyond the limit, though...several awesome early-Prindle pop songs that I would love to hear on a drastically pared-down record...tongue-in-cheek nicks from Queen/Sweet/Metallica/Seattle, and some really killer riffs on both electric AND acoustic guitar. Mark even drops in a Chuck Berry riff on side 1--and he hates that kind of riffing. There are also porno videos, a dog, stuffed animals, and some chick on the sleeve.

Not So Good Things: Too long...too many half-baked ideas which come out sounding "baked"...some of the songs get the short-shrift by being tossed off as jokes, when they really shouldn't be...

I give this a 9 in relation to other LuMP items. It's got a lot of great ideas and shows the P-man actually "crafting", but as a stand-alone record, it doesn't know what it wants to be--LuMP or Mark--and I give it a 6.

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(Pat Aguiar reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 9

Hey there reading person! I'm some dumb teenager from Rhode Island who has been given the supreme honor of having a couple of my reviews on this site. And they're reviews for Mark Prindle's solo albums! But seeing as how I'm still in high school and my musical experience is playing in a couple of crappy bands, I'm wholly inept at writing reviews. But Mark needs reviews for his albums so here goes! And now I can say that I wrote reviews for Mark Prindle's site�. woohoo!!! (Forgive the three exclamation points.)

If you're familiar with Mark's work with LuMP and you take a gander at the lyrics sheet inside the album before listening, you might be fooled into thinking that this is just another LuMP-type of album. But no! Stop: in the name of progress! This album is a sort of continuation of Chicago XX (LuMP's best album). The lyrics for Mark's first solo album all could have very well been on Chicago, very very funny, but not as childish as the other LuMP material. Well some of the other LuMP material. Yes yes, like I said lyrics rank up there with Mark's best, and look look! They're some serious songs too. Now, I normally don't really go for that sort of thing when the rest of the album has joke lyrics, but listen to the serious songs. They definitely won me over. Even if they don't fit in with the rest of the album, the serious songs are fantastic. No jokin'! Shit man, if my generation wasn't a bunch of fucking losers, they'd be enjoying songs like "Mess", "Go" and "Nothing". Shit, if MTV or radio had any sense at all they'd be playing those sort of songs! Oh well. In a different dimension I'm sure Mark Prindle music is played on radios everywhere and the likes of trendy rap/metal groups; deep, artificial, introspective female jazz/pop artists and the rest of those MTV assholes are suffering some horrible sort of fate. But I digress? OK!

Oh yeah! Another thing about the album: if you wanna get the full experience that I'm sure Mr. Prindle intended you to have while listening to this album, listen to it with headphones. There's alotta shit going on in there that you can't hear or appreciate when listening to the album otherwise. This ain't a Ramones album, yo! Hey, speaking of Everybody Loves Raymond, one of the things that makes with album (that's very characteristic of most of Mark's material) is the goddamn creative guitar melodies. This sort of album might have grown old pretty fast (it's 70 minutes and change!) if Mark wasn't so damn adept at pulling great notes out of his guitar so often. Damn, lord knows I've tried to learn some of the great git melodies on this album, but, I'm not very good and the riffs are so damn skillful, so I just can't pull many of them off (though I did figure out some of "Go" and "Suicide Is Truly The Only Solution"). And "Mess"! "Mess"! I gotta mention that song again because it is truly devastating. The music is killer. And the lead guitar that comes in about a minute into the song�.. wow!!

The two things that make this album truly great�. I've already covered the wicked creative guitar melodies�.. and�. oh yes, the funnies! Like I probably said before, these lyrics rank among Mark's best. I might even dare to say that they're funnier than the lyrics on Chicago. But for now, let's just say they're equally funny, eh? Not because Nature's Smelly Ass ain't that great, it's just because Chicago is just so friggin' brilliant. "Suicide Is Truly The Only Solution" and "Ornette Coleman's Dancing In Your Head" had me in hysterics. And another great thing about 'em: show the lyrics to people that are sort of sensitive or easily offended. Man, seeing the face of one of my more easily-offendable friends made after reading "Ornette Coleman�" had me on the floor. Some of the other highlights of funniness: "Half A Pickle", "Joe The Sucky McDonald's Guy", "Jazz Gets Somewhat Tiresome" and the beginning of "The Electric Prunes."

Well, now I've gotta gripe. In a very expirimental album, they're bound to be misses. Including this one. "The Marriage Song" seems to be some sort of joke that I don't get. "Bring Back Jim!" ain't that great either. There're some more songs that I don't really care for on this album also. But hey, they're 42 (!) songs on here and the hit to miss ratio is very good.

Another problem: some of the songs just run on for too long. "Living Vicariously Through A Football Team" shouldn't be over two minutes�. it's not that good at all, except the lyrics, which are amusing and well, we all know people like that, so it's relatable. Haha, the computer says I spelled "relatable" wrong. Take this, Microsoft Word! Who's laughing now?! Oh yeah. Some of the songs just push the "just hit the 'ff' button" barrier.

Here comes the tough part: the rating. Ummmm, a nine for this one. A nine because, although like I said, they're some misses, but not many: but the album is very ambitious, aims high and hits . A very worthwhile album. And like I said before, if my generation has any musical taste at all, they'd spend their hard-unearned dollars, or more accurately, four hard-earned dollars, on this album.

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(CB Smith reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 7

Despite what an increasingly large number of postmodern losers would have you believe, there IS such a thing as innate quality. No matter the genre, you can build logical cases greater or lesser achievement in it, cases that do not fall back on opinion but rely instead on assessments of novelty and technical skill, which can be determined explicitly.

Take Mark Prindle for example. It can be easy to say, listening to Nature's Smelly Ass (a title he disavows but which points out his charming immaturity tellingly), that he achieved what he wanted, and that makes it good.

But that's NOT what makes it good. As much as he might be bothered by the lurking elitism of such a statement, Mark has a vision. He goes for something different, and-I dare say it-better. You can be happy with complacency, but only novelty has the ability to raise your happiness threshold; only by experiencing something new and great can you expand the field of your enjoyment to encompass more than just classic greatness. This also, of course, gets you crap; break rules all the time and you end up breaking good rules sometimes too.

Jeez-the problem with writing about Mark this way is that it doesn't capture how FUN his music is! I can blather all day about him trying desperately to break free from his roots (partly at least by incorporating as many as he can), but what does that get you? Every sort of music you've ever heard goes in a blender, and comes out louder: that's the Prindle way. Said by me, that may sound boring or too cerebral, but it's amazing how often it works-how frequently you find yourself humming along, or just enjoying the way those guitars ring off each other.

In the tradition of the best subversives, Mark doesn't sound very revolutionary at all on first listen. Maybe the occasional guitar sound, sure, but those dumbass lyrics keep reminding you it's all just pop songs. Yet see how he makes you even question the viability of pop with ridiculous, hilariou, underthought-and-overwrought stuff like "Joe the Sucky McDonald's Guy" or "Garden of Ukeleles?"

And here's where he borders on genius: he then proceeds to include some catchy, powerful, moving songs like "Mess" and "Boring," and well-done pop ditties like "Go" and "Nothing." He manages to completely restore your faith-for at least as long as it takes to get to the next joke about defecation.

Let's be brutal. The mix is occasionally horrible and few of the executions live up to the talent I know he has. Sometimes it crosses the line from experimentation to desperation, and listening even to the shortened CD version can be exhausting. But dangit, there's no way an album this fun can be bad! A 7 out of 10, which may seem overly harsh but consider what this is up against: fully-fledged studio outings by the Beatles, Fugazi, Nick Cave, etc. That's a respectable showing alongside powerful company.

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(Mike DeFabio reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 8

Better production than on the next one, or maybe it's because the distortion isn't cranked up to the max on as many songs. Either way, the songs here are real good. Individuals? "Trading Card Shenanigan" had me laughing hysterically with its very calmly sung "Heeeeeeeeeee!" "Eddie's Dad" suffers near the end because of somebody having a little too much fun with the volume control, but up until then it's a fine song, although I would've liked to hear the really bad Tom Waits impression. "Mess" is a beautiful little drumless pop song with layers upon layers of guitars creating a lush bed of sound while Mark sings on top about his mental problems. "Back At Chet's Potato Minigolf" sports a hilarious title and changes tempo about every bar, and is still able to get stuck in your head! I had to take the SAT the other day and all I could get out of my brain was "Che-STER! OR!/Chet for SHORT!/Hated all the URCHINS GATHERED/round his FORT!/Pulled out a maCHETE!/Hacked aWAY!/Hacked in the MOOORNING..." Ah, you get the idea. "Garden Of Ukeleles" is a barbershop song! "Furnished with a Caboose" sounds like an early Genesis tune. Why? "Big Tummy" has a false ending and lyrics that involve drinking floor cleaner to spite your stomach. "Jobs Are An Asshole" has great cartoony blues vocals. "Urine Test Fish Guy Fellow" is... kooky. "Theme From The Kiwi Song" is also kooky. This review is dumb. Anyway, I think this album's really great if taken in in small portions, 74 minutes of it is a bit hard to take. And the spaces between songs kind of destroy the flow of the album, changing it from one big suite into a bunch of little songs. But I'll fix all that when I butcher all the best songs from both CDs and dump 'em onto a mix CD that you can't borrow! Nyah!

Oh, and the inside cover is great, featuring Mr. Prindle himself in a Dead Kennedys T-shirt in the back of a video store. That doesn't sound so funny, but you have to see the videos he's holding up. Pfwah!

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(Chris Willie Williams reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 7

Exhibiting all the same traits that make his music reviews the single most important documents of gonzo criticism on the Internet, the first solo album from Mark Prindle is a flaming flea market of overkill, sophomoric humor, self-indulgence, God Ween Satan-esque genre riffs, pop-culture references, noise, profanity, and free association, yet somehow still focused and disciplined enough to keep you listening and leave you feeling as though you've experienced something revelatory. Before I go any farther, though, I must address the issue of sound quality, because it's a problem that has dogged Mark ever since this album's release: I purchased this album upon its initial pressing (which is to say, when Mark burned me a copy in 1998), and got through it exactly twice. The entire album was recorded on a four-track in Mark's NYC apartment, which is not in and of itself a bad thing, but the original copies of the album were so poorly mixed it was unlistenable. Guitars were distorted into asteroid belts of fuzz, the vocals were buried beneath a tinny drum machine, and all the levels sounded as though they'd been pushed so far into the red the mixing board must have resembled a menstruating Noid. (It's hard not to say things like this when you're reviewing a Prindle album. Sorry.) However, in 2002, Mark remastered this and his subsequent two albums, and I cannot overstate the difference this makes. Suddenly, what was once vaguely rhythmic feedback has morphed into identifiable melodies, inventive guitar lines, and actual songs to boot! If your only experience with Mark's music is via one of the original versions of these albums, I urge you to upgrade your Prindle discography as soon as possible, because you cannot appreciate the quality of his music in the previously available format.

Which is not to say the production is otherwise without problems. Most of these songs lack a proper bottom end, which is fine for calmer numbers like the stewing "Trading Card Shenanigan" and the flighty "Smearing Sperm Whale Secretion All Over My Face"- where the guitar and faux-exotic rhythm are highlighted, respectively- but the ineffectual drum machine and not-bassy-enough bass render hardcore tracks like "Ging Hoopy- Runnin' Fast" and "Acid Rules" little more than flaccid demos of promising songs. Once you get used to the negative-fidelity sounds you're hearing, however, you can start to appreciate Prindle's unique ear for tones, chord progressions, and harmonies that seem to draw inspiration from every rock album Mark has ever heard. For example, one might not expect much subtlety on an album that contains lyrics like "Burger King said, 'Have it your way'/Well, I want half a pickle/Manager says he can't do that for me/Well, that's the last time I'm chewing his dickle," but check out the evocative, E-bow based "Furnished with a Caboose" or the sturdy two-guitar intro to the catchy "Suicide is Truly the Only Solution" (that sounds like R.E.M.'s "Feeling Gravitys Pull" on crack). Most of all, no matter highbrow you think your sense of humor is, there is an easygoing-but-persistent attempt on Prindle's part to make you bust out laughing every fourth or fifth song, at least. If the lyrics don't do it for you, he'll get you with throwaway gags like the cheesy handclap sounds before the verse of the punky "Joe the Sucky McDonald's Guy," or the hilarious way he freaks out while singing the punchline of "I Like Those Things That I Turn to Tune My Guitar." Like Touch Me Zoo's similarly overstuffed Wonderwear Music, Nature's Smelly Ass is an album that could have used some pruning (most of the hardcore tracks, and almost everything after the cheeky "Ornette Coleman's Dancing in Your Head" could be cut, really), but there are few things more satisfying in the independent rock world than the sounds of an artist embracing the genre's freedom to whip musical darts at a wall, just for the fun of seeing what hits its target and what doesn't. One of those things is when there's actually as impressive a hit-to-miss ratio as Mark exhibits here.

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(Victor Prose reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 7

When reading this page's scores of unabashedly glowing reviews for these albums by the world's most well-versed poop aficionado/freelance music critic, it's hard not to believe there's some serious kissing of ass going on. Sparkling 8s, 9s and even *10s* for what even the creator has purported is a low-fi mess--what do they think these tapes are, The Dirty Rotten LP? Needless to say, when I received copies of Mark Donovan Prindle and the Huge Rock 'n' Roll Megasensation's first two CDs in the mail, I was prepared to repay Mark's promised comments on my work by judging HIS records as I thought everybody else had -- on a plane of considerably lower standards.

Well, eat my fuc and call me Lillian -- either the CDs' remastering job really really really helped, or I seriously underestimated out poopdish of fluid prose. Anyway, whatever the cause of Nature's Smelly Ass' prowess, it's a good thing I jumped back onto the objective plane of music evaluation so quickly. Otherwise, I might've been praising this album as superior to Astral Weeks -- or at least Badfinger's No Dice.

This is basically an overlong, incoherent, juvenile, raucous, and intensely funny and well-crafted pastiche of LuMP-esque hardcore humor and obvious Suicidal Tendencies/Circle Jerks/DRI/Black Flag influences, with obvious debts owed to REM, Midnight Oil, Neil Young, REM, U2, the Who, the Stones, Neil Hamburger, Miles Davis, the Beatles and even an unconscious bit of the Grateful Dead. Mark makes all of his records a pastiche of different outlandish ideas, trying out everything whether shamelessly or seriously and succeeding at about 75% of it. There's no way to dissect the record critically without drifting completely away from structure; therefore, let's revisit Mark's own Jurassic Park: The Album review by going song by song by song by song by song by song by song by song by song...

Man alive, I really do love that "Take Off" by Bob and Doug MacKenzie. For the record--none of these tunes are that good. But then, the Beatles aren't even that good.

The albums starts out, um, really fuckin' loud. "Ging Hoopy - Runnin' Fast" lives up to its title: maybe not the "ging hoopy" part (unless the inaudible lyrics have something to do with it), but it's a jaunty, fast-as-hell, bone-crunching slice of hardcore that remains the perfect way to start any album of this nature. I plan to give each track a rating from 1 to 5 (out of 5)--this one gets an easy 4. Mark obviously achieved what he was trying to do here.

"Trading Card Shenanigan", while slower and poppier, is no less powerful. This is a damn fine little song, with enjoyable harmonies and production to boot. Thiswun getza 4 frum mee. A note on the production: if Group Sex is an 80 and Let it Be is a 50, this is an easy 70. Mark did a good job wit da knobz.

"Change the Channel, Carroll O' Connor" is another excellent hardcore song, and the first tune I've ever heard that honors (ahem) the late Archie Bunker. It naturally ends with the first reference to having shoved something up one's ass. 4-5 points.

"Livin' it Up Like Eddie's Dad", a LuMP cover, is by contrast an excellent pop single. Seriously, this could be a hit if you could play some of the more wacky stuff on the radio (you probably can in this day and age). I haven't heard the supposedly weaker Chicago XX version, but this is an easy 5. Damn.

"I Ching", tho', is less fun. And the lyrics are completely inaudible. This has a neat riff, but there's no way I can give it more than a 2-5.

But "Mess" is a masterpiece. The best song on here by a long shot, because it could actually hold its own amongst some of the best tunes ever written. The most poignant of Mark's tunes, the most effectively earnest, the simplest, most attractive harmonies, the best lyrics, and a great supplementary guitar part that gives the tune a haunting feel. This is the reason you kinda need to get this CD. "Mess" proves that Mark, in all of his occasionally distasteful tendencies, really does have AUTHENTIC TALENT. He's not just a jokester. A 5 all da way.

"Acid Rules" is heavy, hard, and quick, much like the most agile and appealing of penises. A 4, but this could fit in easily on the best DRI albums.

"God Rules" comes next--the CD track listing screws up by putting "The Marriage Song" too early on the list (it's shoved to a much better place between the two tape sides). This is quick and effective, with a great, left-field punchline and Mark singing like the Dude of Life. A 4.

"Chet..." is a little hard to like. If you haven't heard, Mark REEEEALLLY likes that volume control. It kinda works with the psychopathic edge of this song, but it can get pret-ty annoying after, um, two minutes. 3-5.

"I Like Those Things That I Turn to Tune My Guitar" is electric folk-rock with self-explanatory subject manner. It's quiet, charming, funny, and short. 4.

"Bring Back Jim!", by contrast, is completely superfluous and basically forgettable. There's really nothing here to make the track essential. A 2.

"Go" makes up for it as a swell pop tune in the vein of "Mess"--faster, too, which is always good. This is another example of Marcus's songwritingus's prowus's. This pretty much deserves a 5.

"Lefties, Righties" however, is just annoying. Fine the first time, but it starts to dig into your nerves like a fine foreign-insect infested wine. 2-5.

Christian Burns Smith is right about "Garden of Ukuleles", however--it's totally idiosyncratic and totally worthy of the 4.5-star rating I'm about to give it.

That trippy, folksy masterwork is followed by the less distinguished "Run Around in Gymnasium". It coulda been a fine song, but the competition is just too strong--Mark musta used up most of his creativity already. Still, that "A dog--free!!!!!" line really gets me. Dis is a 3.

"I Can't Wear a Ponytail" is a messy, punky quickie in the vein of LuMP. And hey, chekk that out, 'twas already a LuMP song, and this version is just as charming. 4.

"Half a Pickle" is a pleasant quickie with spacey vocals (the thing that mars it, basically) that debuts the word "dickle"--I think. A weightless tune wit a well-earned 2-5 star rating.

"Sperm Whale", by contrast, is delightful, classic, improvised Prindle with a great riff-thing. Wonderbar. A 4 it is.

The E-bow-driven "Furnished by a Caboose", despite a near-lack of melody *\(but not riff!!!) and unmakeoutable lyrics, is a lovely side closer. I could'n'a axed fer any-ting betta. 4 solid starfish.

"The Marriage Song"--'kay, with so many actual SONGS, ya cut out for the CD reissue, why the fuck did this John Cage ripoff keep its place on an otherwise enjoyable record? Not funny, not enjoyable--just nothing. The only jappy thing about it (the only JANKLY thing, if you will) is the fact that it provides some nice space between side un and side deux. No stars, ma man. Sorry.

"Antonio Banderas Naked", a great 38-second instrumental intro (hmm...that title...) actually gives Mike Oldfield and Tangerine Dream a run for their money. Quite a feat--a well-deserved 4.

"Nothing" might be a Condom? What Condom? outtake--I haven't heard that record, see, so I don't know...but this, while buried deeper in a cave-like mix than a Joy Division tune, provides some more upbeat but haunting brilliance. "Nothing" is one of the Prindmaster Flash's best songs. 4-5.

"Smart People are Stupid" will scare the shit out of you. And then Mark will write a song about the load you just dropped. A 3--it's an interesting experiment, anyway.

"My Cold..." is annoyingly muddy, one of the weaker produced song. But it's not much worse as a song than "Trading Card..." it basically deserves a 3 for the overall package. But don't worry, 'cuz that scream at the end is classic.

"Big Tummy" is just delightful, a catchyashell Chocolate and Cheese-esque pop tune about seeking revenge against one's bellellellelly. Yeah, the production is no better than the last song, but the song is killer. This is a well deserved 4. And that instrumental part after the false ending is excellent.

"Living Vicariously..." is some nice football parody, but it's kind of tame and undefined for a, um, Mark Prindle song. Still--"and by me, I mean Fran Tarkington..." Yeah. This is a kind-of-low 3.

"Joe the Sucky McDonald's Guy" surprised me. I had heard so many great things about it--one of the highlights of this record!! and such--and then it's superceded by so many better, better songs. Sure, it's fast and semi-catchy, but the production hurts this one too. 4 for the song, but lowered to a 3-5 for the poor-quality mix.

Now "Missing" is nice. But the mix is once again kinda muddy, and the song is surprisingly...well, slight. Yes--this is Mark Prindle writing a kind of SLIGHT, FEATHERWEIGHT POP SONG. It's still good, though, and Brenda seems to like it a lot. A 4.

"Boring" is a masterpiece. The best pop song on the record since "Go"--no, it's better, it's "Mess"-worthy, it could be a smart, admirable, catchy and fast-paced chart hit. Yes, a CHART HIT. This is the kind of song great underground albums are made of. A 5, with little stars around it and lots of strange red dots under the title, label and year.

"Jobs Are an Asshole" is more of a light tossoff, with a blues-flavored vocal. 3 stars. Definitely a Prindle tune, but this whole side is a little murky-sounding--why!!?!?!??!!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

"Suicide is Truly the Only Solution", a Descendents- and LuMP-flavored skewering of that one Ozzy Osbourne tune that got so much heat, is hilarious, melodic, and presented with that caustic edge that makes so much of Mark's humor so goddamned funny. That ending rocks, too, speed-knob issue aside. 4-5.

"Ornette Coleman's Dancing In Your Head" is album's best, most concise and HIFUCKINGLARIOUS joke, a great, eclectic tune, clever, engaging, warped, delightful--it's a Prindle Masterpiece on the other end of the spectrum from "Mess" and "Boring". 5 star.

"Mold" is fine, but do we really need an ode to a shower-curtain's disgusting little buddies? No, not really...besides, this tune is leagues weaker than about 60 LuMP songs.

There's not much special to say about "Urine Test Fish Guy Fellow", except that the production, tune and performance is pretty good. It's all not bad. 4 stars. Is it just I, or do the drums on this album sound a lot like the work of the late Elma Dee.......?

The lyrics of "Jazz is Somewhat Tiresome" confidently and importantly (and, I guess, funnily) address the crucial and controversial issue of Mark's "not really getting jazz at all". Mark sarcastically and effectively approaches the situation, winning impressive lyrical results from both, and the music ain't bad...it's just that damn knob again...3-5.

"True Yet Not True at All" is searing and melodic. 4 loud, ripping, boisterous stars. Who here likes ear sex?

"Hurting You in a Malicious Manner" is wonderful. A great melody, and the same caustic lyrics and powerful, fast-paced tune. This manages to rage, jerk a tear, and make you laugh all in the same extremely short period (period! haa!) of time.

"Lightning Rod"...overuses the word "ass", and it's too quick and reminiscent of previous tunes to be distinguished. It's like track 35 of Ace of Spades if Ace of Spades had 45 songs on it--you get that supremely clever metaphor? Do ya? Hahahahahaha, then!!!!!! (Anyway, the punchline of this tune elevates its rating a half a point to 3-5 stars. Kee.)

Two songs follow, and I can't even friggin' remember the title of the first one. Oh, yeah, um...Larry's Trashcan! That's it! Not too great or memorable, though. I wish I could see this lyrics, maybe some of these ratings would be raised a half-point or so...like this one, which still steadily rests at a 2-5 star point...

"Kiwi" is a Brenda/Mark collaboration, I believe written strictly by Brenda. It's a pleasant, slight little tune that's at least catchy enough to sing. But what the hell does it mean!!??!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!? Damn do I like typing in all dem explcmammeatiation points. (3 stars, by the way).

"Electric Prunes". Ha ha. I get it. "Electric Prunes" like the band, but the fruit, so you get an excuse to make poop jokes...great...um...I had too much to dream last night. Ha. I got the joke. Ummahh, 'kay, not the best way to end the album, but it ends after all that.

And a buncha great tunes, too!!!! 3 stars for this last one.

4 pages later, here's my overall analysis: Mark may dis LuMP from time to time (great/grating as they variably were), but don't ever let him dis his solo work in from of you without making an attempt to cut off the balls that are a subject of so many of his songs! Because this 30-year-old bastard has some real MUSICAL TALENT. The incohesive record may be a solid B/7 stars, but for songs like "Mess", "Boring", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Layla" and "Take it in the Butt, Glenn Frey", this is SOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it!!!!!!!!

Sorry, let me change that last statement.

This is quite worth it.

HEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

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(Denver Johnson reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 8

Mark Prindle is a man of many contradictions. His music reviews often contain many jokes that are vulgar and offensive, yet he retains a certain lovable naive sensibility about him. Though his music with the Low Maintenance Perennials was often just as harsh as his subject matter, his debut solo album is much different. Once again, the record is filled to the brim with vulgar humor and silly jokes. However, this time it's offset with some truly gorgeous music.

Now I walked into this listening experience not knowing what to expect. To tell you the truth, on first listen, I was annoyed. You see, the music on this album is so creative, and so unlike anything I've ever heard, that it almost seems like it'd be better as an instrumental album. Hey, I buy into Frank Zappa's belief that humor does belong in music. Though with Ween and Zappa, their careers were built around deconstructing existing genres. Prindle's sound is all his own, but he lacks a lot as far as actual melodies are concerned. When melodies do shine through, they are very good. However, this is a very seldom occurence.

Another thing, this is not an album where I think we can really dissect it song by song. A lot of these songs might suffer taken out of context. However, I will talk about a few songs that I do adore. "Livin' It Up Like Eddie's Dad" is an awesome song, and with the right production, has a lot of hit potential, and very funny lyrics. "Mess," like the other actual serious stuff on here like "Go," another very poppy song with a great melody, "Nothing," "Missing," and "Boring," all prove what a great heart this man has. Now I want to hear more of this in Mark's music. Hauntingly beautiful melodies filled to the brim with very moving lyrics.

Other highlights for me include "Garden of Ukueleles," which is perhaps my favorite tune on the album. It reminds me of 70's Brian Wilson. It's lush, but in that deranged lunacy sort of way. "Theme From 'The Kiwi Song'" proves that Mark's other half can pen a nice tune. She's sort of like the Stevie Nicks to his Lindsey Buckingham. He is the studio whiz, while she is perfectly content just being a nice songwriter.

Don't get me wrong. The music on this stuff is amazing. I didn't award it an 8 for nothing. But until Mark matures and lets us see what a true genius he is, I'm afraid he'll fall just short of giving me the sort of emotional experience I cherish in music.

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(Billy Barron reviews) Nature's Smelly Ass: Maxell Audiocassettes' 1998 Fall Sampler
Rating = 8

This is a tough one because I would give the stretch of songs from the beginning through "Lefties Rights" a very high 9. Unfortunately, the album looses steam for me after that and I turn it off. I've listened to the rest - not bad, but not interesting for me.

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(Nick Leu reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)
Rating = 8

So what do I think of the new album by LuMP conspirator/spokesman Mark Prindle? Well, I think it deserves an 8/10. And, umm, I guess I'll elaborate now(I'm allowed to use big words like "elaborate" cause I'm in college.)

This album has tons of great sounds and guitar melodies on it. The drum beats are really good sounding, and the 4 track is taken to the limit(I hate the way that sounds. "taken to the limit". Hi, my name's Nick. I just wrote a basketball shoe commercial.) Mark's songs here contain lots of guitar interplay and shit, and for the most part are very entertaining and good. I dig the expanded use of harmonics, too.

However, due to the law of averages(don't know where the fuck that came from), some of these songs just fall flat on their collective sexual organ. Like there'll be 2 simultaneous yet unrelated guitar lines in a song, and neither of them will have a melody. Or an otherwise good song will be ruined by stupid speed manipulation on the vocals, making it a.impossible to understand the lyrics(i know they're printed, but still...), and b. impossible to listen for the music.

Observation: this album doesn't really remind me of the LuMP musically or lyrically. For example, where the LuMP were more rooted in punk, there are only traces of punk here, the emphasis being on the songs themselves, as opposed to speed or volume. Also, it gives off more of a "guy in NYC spouting sarcastic obscenities about actual personal experiences" vibe, as opposed to the LuMP's hilarious abstract juxtapositions (y'know, nuns+bubble gum+etc.).

In conclusion, most bands write 10-20 songs for an album. This one contains 67. And about 55 of 'em are really great. Cut the bad ones out and ya got yerself an easy 10. Notice how I didn't name any song titles. That's cause part of the fun is reading 'em yrself. So get the cd from Mark!! Here's another bit of advice for anyone reading this. Don't ever get a job telemarketing!!! NOT EVEN FOR A GOOD CAUSE. Oh yeah, and listen to Born Against. Well, it's what I'm doing....

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(Nathan Brewer reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)
Rating = 8

As with any album with Mark Prindle playing an instrument or writing lyrics on it, there are certain things that one can expect. His quirky style of lyric writing is definitely here and in full force. The lyrics here are humorous, more so than his last solo album, which contained a number of "serious" songs. However, I thought and was somewhat hoping that he would progress from there. The fact the lyrics on this album aren't serious is not at all a disappointment. It is great fun to read sarcastic jabs at everything from co-workers to Catholocism to "bashful bladder", as well as numerous other topics, which though can be looked at in a serious manner, is always good to have a laugh at their expense. The lack of progression in moving away from the sarcastic lyrics though has created somewhat of a clash between that and the music, which has somewhat progressed beyond the somewhat goofy musical arrangements of the last album. The Nature's Smelly Ass album was a delightful romp through the pre-Jurassic Park LuMP days, a lot of fun jokey melodies with lyrics to match, but musically this album is somewhat more akin to Jurassic Park. Though the album's opener, "Stupid and Boring? No! Avante-Garde!" takes a poke at music in left-field, a large portion of the music here resides there. Quite a few songs, especially towards the beginning, are buried in noisy distortion, rather than presenting the melodies in the forefront, as was done on earlier releases. This combined with the complete lack of space between the songs gives the album somewhat of a sense of abstract musical seriousness. Not to say that the entire album is like this of course, every now and then a goofy melody pops up (the beginning and ending of "My Ho Left Me For A Golf Ball" being the prime example), the musical progression into the realm of "seriousness" somewhat clashes with the silly lyrics, and often the vocal delivery. While I'm complaing, I think a little more trimming could have been helpful, as the album suffers a little bit from the overlength problem. But complains aside, I like this album. The lyrics are as fun to read as ever, filled with sarcastic rants that I agree with 100% (see "Internet Pornography Gives My Boner An Erection"), and the music is great to listen to ("I And Those Around Me Receive The Majority Of Our News From Yahoo!" is very reminiscent of Godflesh, who's Streetcleaner is one of the greatest albums of all time... but I digress). Though the album is not without its flaws, and even though those flaws can be a bit frustrating, this album is a very enjoyable listenable experience, which I am proud to reward a 7.7 (rounded up to an 8) to. Lets hope the next album blows everything away!

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* (Jim Hull reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine) *
Rating = 10

Okay.

This is Mark's best record. Want to know why? Because he's letting us see who he is on it, and he's providing a point to his jokes as well as "maturing" and providing insights into his puh-sychy! "I Can't Use A Urinal 'Cuz I'm A Pussy" proves that the title of this album ain't completely a joke. I love the "Mark's Diary" approach to writing this record, and think it's the best thing he could have done for his songs.

Let me quote one lyric from "That Crazy Old Man Eating Out Of The Trash Was Funny":

"...He grabbed that Coke/Drank it through the straw/It probably gave him AIDS/Ha ha ha..."

Above is the finest lyric that Mark Prindle has yet written.

Am I crazy? Nope. The reason that lyric (and song) is great, is because unlike many of the LuMP and earlier Prindletoons, there is irony in the lyric, and in the musical delivery of the lyric. He's not bashing you over the head like a WCW wrestler, but he's shaking you hard. This is a line that Dee Dee Ramone would have written, and I thought of the Deedster when I heard it. I'm envious of this song. Envious.

I know. I'm a pompous idiot. But listen to this record from about track 44 to about 57, and you'll find the best stuff of Prindle's "career". Originals, parodies, buffoonery. It's great stuff, and it's thoughtful, heartfelt, and sometimes brutally honest with personal subject matter--things that in my opinion, Mark has sometimes previously danced around and masked with shock lyrics and obscenity. He lets it out here, and the record is much the better for it. Cool guitar lines and lazy guitar lines abound, as usual. Good for Mark.

Badness: Too long, of course. But this is a given with Mark, and something I'll always bitch about. Much chaff, but a lot of it is more interesting than much of his other chaff, so I humbly give this record a 10. I give it a 10 with reservations, but I give it a 10 as his best record, and recommend you get it first.

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(Pat Aguiar reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 9

It really took me awhile to decide on whether to give this album eight or nine stars. I really liked the last album, and this one is as good as the last one except maybe inferior in the traditional sense of songcraft, if ya know what I mean, which ya probably don't. The last one had more accessible shit that sounded like, a normal pop song. A few of them were like that. This one is more inaccessible. That's why I felt Keep On Zaccin' is inferior. But after multiple listens I began to appreciate a certain aspect of Keep On Zaccin' more. Being a songwriter�. That is one who isn't that great at all and comes from the school of Johnny Ramone guitar playing, I know how tough it is to come up with an original and catchy guitar melody. This album, totally different and unique, has tons of interesting melodies. All kinds of 'em. And this album keeps it up for 74 minutes. Nearly every song is unique and catchy, but not in the traditional structure. That's why it gets a nine! By the way, my apologies for the shittiness and unintelligibility of the above paragraph.

Oh, hah, and it's wicked funny. Hah! Just a look at the song titles and lyrics sheet�. It's the usual. The lyrics are a hoot! But of course you know that. End paragraph.

Oh, man, I'm afraid this review might go something like my last one. This album is sort of similar to the last one. Except like I said in the top paragraph, it's more unique. And no serious songs! Ooh, and the harmony vocals! There're lots of those. And accapella (spelled wrong) vocals. Well, there're usually all sorts of noises going when, so I guess it's not quite accapella. So, the vocals are brought out a lot more on this album. Yes yes! Quite good.

Highlights? Yes. There're quite a lot of them. Tons of these bastards have the potential to stick in your head. "Honey Child, You Ain't Lived�." Is the first really good one. "I Can't Help But Notice�." should be required listening for humans across the world. "Dogs Galore!" is my girlfriend's favorite. I guess that's worth mentioning. Ya know what? Since there are 67 songs are here, naming favorites is pretty futile. Let me just say that there are some sucky songs on here. But for every "A Hilarious Riddle�." Or "Hot Cross Buns", there are about seven really terrific tunes.

Let me just mention how truly great "A Song Written and Sung�.." is. Christ, those guitar lines are amazing. I don't think you'll find songs that sound like that by anyone else.

OK, concluding paragraph. My verdict: this is quite the album. Certainly a worthy addition to anyone's record collection. And it's four bucks! If the world were a perfect place, this album would be on the Billboard Top forty, right along with ALL and the Pavers and�.Yeah, you get it. Let's just hope that Mr. Prindle keeps up the good work and keeps filling people's speakers with music like this.

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(CB Smith reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 9

Holy Christ, this is a great album. Mark has managed to almost completely overcome the difficulties that plagued his previous release: everything distorted (in a bad way), the vocals were weak, the songs were sometimes scatterbrained. That's mostly all gone, with only the sheer epic length of the album remaining to challenge the listener.

Not to say that the experimentalism, joviality, or immaturity have vanished with those traits--just listen to "My Ho Left Me for a Golf Ball" if you need unpredictable funny innuendo, or "Jogging is the Bestest" if you need unnecessary same. Everything here is in overplus, from the guitar sounds (which range into heights of beautiful idiocy and depths of insolent brilliance) to the harmonized vocals to, of course, those words.

Since forever Mark's lyrical personas have struck me as authentic voices, if not at all honest; no slice-of-life verisimilitude for him, but emotional tirades and childish rondelays that seemed somehow akin to the fundamentally human.

If you can believe that.

Yet with this album you finally actually hear some real Mark Prindle peeking through. Sure, on Nature's Smelly Ass you got things like "Boring" and "Go" which certainly felt real enough--but that was a neurotic, college-age Mark who only cared about girls. Here you get a fully adult voice, no less honest for berating its own inadequacies in preposterous terms. And no less touching for discussing bashful bladder or his attitudes towards fucking.

This may be an experience few other listeners get. I imagine they do find his personality intriguing since as presented here it is warped in several hilarious ways; I just don't know if, like I do, they feel warm affection for the goofy, incisive person that balances all this stuff in his head. I like Mark a lot.

None of that personal stuff is more than icing for what makes this album great, though. And that is? Songwriting, I guess--that just seems impersonal and inadequate for what Mark and a handful of other people are capable of. He manages to dredge out of his brain a curious amalgam of his disparate musical tastes, process it for amusement value, and disgorge it into your ears. It's lovely.

There have been, and always will be, people that can capture the mood of the day. Dave Matthews might be one of them, the members of Iron Butterfly and Abba more. That's not a talent to mock, surely, but it seems to pale in comparison to true musical genius. What artists like Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barrett or Rob Wright or Ash Bowie do is different. They present music that sounds beautifully, transcendently obvious--but which we ourselves would never have discovered without their guidance.

Is Mark in that league? He certainly aspires to it. Perhaps there's too many songs on Keep On Zaccin', or perhaps Mark tries too hard to deflate his own pretensions sometimes, ending up sounding like just another foul-mouthed comic (which he certainly isn't). But listen to that exuberance! Listen to the very structure of rock music shimmer when he hits the peaks of his powers! It may not mean much, but Mark Prindle is a really damn good rock musician.

Nine out of ten.

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(Mike DeFabio reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 8

Well, he still hasn't lost it, folks! If one ever wondered who the real brains behind the LuMP was, this is where you find out. These are some of the most catchy and hilarious songs I've ever heard, I tell ya. The noise collage at the beginning, the sheer goofiness of "Dogs Galore!" and "God Made The Indians Inferior To Me," the very serious punk melody of "My Ho Left Me For A Golf Ball" that makes you forget the song is actually about a golf ball, the very un-Rush-like Cookie Monster vocals on "Mystical Journey Through The Realms of Fantasy" that make me crack up just thinking about them, ("Hermes rests while the children... PLAAAAAY!") the high pitched chorusy guitar melody during that one part of "Jogging Is The Bestest," the sheer tastelessness of "Facts That I Would Like You To Spread Across The Internet" that would probably be all over the news had it been on an actual album, the homeless person bashing of "That Crazy Old Man Eating Out of the Trash Was Funny," the supremely moving melody of "Separation of the Components of a Mixture" that make you forget that the song is actually about a mixture, the Cream-esque vocals on "I Have No Interest In Entertaining Anyone But Myself," and the Tool-esque "Legacy of Crapality" all add up to one swingin' time! There's lots of other good songs too, lots of catchy little punk numbers during the second half, but the real meat lies in the experimental tracks, like "Jack Russell Terrier," with sound effects that sound like they were recorded in a coal mine or something, and... "Yahoo!" with its backwards/forwards vocals and sludgy doom ambience, and...man, there are so many cool noises on here! Even though not all the songs are good, and the album doesn't really come to a complete end, there's still plenty of good stuff here, it's good enough to earn a high eight from me! Yeeeeeeeeah boy!

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(Lex reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 8

I finally got a chance to listen to Zaccin'. I thought it was pretty good, but I still couldn't hear some of the lyrics. I could hear most of them, though, especially on the songs where you harmonize with yourself. Now I'll talk about individual songs. I liked "Stupid and Boring? No! Avant-Garde!" a lot. "I Can't Help But Notice That God Made The Indians Inferior To Me" was pretty funny. I love the melody to that one. "Cadillac Man Fan" was cool, with the echoes and stuff. "It Means I Love You" was about as funny as "Indians". While I liked the lyrics for "That's A Pisspoor Excuse For A Shoehorn", I couldn't hear them that well in the song. "My Ho Left Me For A Golf Ball" suffers from the same syndrome as "Shoehorn". "Oh, Won't You Help Me Paint My House A Fag Color" was good. "Separation Of The Components Of A Mixture". Now, this one needs to be discussed in depth, partly because it's almost 5 (!) minutes long, and partly because it's such an awesome song. I cannot describe how totally awesome this song is. This song is probably one of the most depressing songs I've ever heard. It beats pretty much anything Jewel's written by a margin of 10 to 1. The lyrics could almost make me cry. I probably interpreted the lyrics wrong, but...my guess is that this is mostly symbolism? My attempt at the general idea of the song is that you met someone at K-Mart, fell in love with them, took them home, learned every trivial fact about them over time (separated their components). You seeked their approval. You were pretty sure that it was more than infatuation, but only wanted to love them if they did the same in return. (I hoped it would visit me to tell me how to feel = I hoped they would visit me and say if they loved me so I could love them) After that, my guess is that they came to visit, but...?? They weren't the same? You mistook someone else for them? The lines after that suggest that they had to move away. About "I had nothing to say"...does this mean that you never told them you loved them? Somehow, I seem to understand the rest of the lyrics quite clearly, and can even symphasize with them. How the hell could anyone write a masterpiece like this? Anyway...I think I'll list my other favorites now. "Mark D. Prindle", "Jogging Is The Bestest", "I Can't Use A Urinal 'Cuz I'm A Pussy", "Facts I Would Like You To Spread Across The Internet", "Spooky Guy With A Mustache", "I And Those Around Me Recieve The Majority Of Our News From Yahoo!", "I Suck A Big Ol' Peen", "Stop The Bloody Slaughter!", "Reprehensible Act Of Treachery Having Occurred At The Nursery (Plant)", "That Crazy Old Man Eating Out Of The Trash Was Funny", "Query Of The Genius", "Legacy Of Crapality". Oh, and I've always wanted to write a song like "Why Must You Incessantly Respond To My Cruelty With Mean-Spiritedness?".

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(Brenda Aske reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 6

(important note from Mark Prindle: I'd like everyone to know that Brenda reviewed the CD while listening to it through her laptop computer speakers. Thus, she missed out on all the basslines and... you know, separation and stuff. Also, she doesn't understand art)

Mark reaches some highs on Prozac, but it's not him at his best.

On Zaccin', we reach some milestones in Mark's development-notably greater experimentation with styles and steps toward innovation in instrument-playing-but most of the album is just wacky filler.

The album starts out strong-even years after it was recorded, I still get the Michael Ovitz song stuck in my head, making me shake my neck back and forth like a West Nile virus-infected pigeon. The guitar medley on "I can't help but notice..." is just amazing, like the Dave Matthews band if they actually had talent, and segues well into "Sometimes you just gotta dance." "I'm not (a very good songwriter)" -although with a totally untrue title-is pretty and flowing.

"Cadillac man fan" is a great quickie; "Dogs galore" is fun, a slight ripoff of some cartoon theme, but hey, it's sung by me; "It means I love you" is a completely engrossing radio song as is "Yonder doggie." Incidentally, this is the first time I've actually been able to discern the lyrics, and find them to be quite clever.

Skipping to "My ho," you'd find a Rancid-like song that is somewhat predictive of the Mark-Prindle-take-on-mainstream-music style we see more on Stop, Drop and Roll. And hoo boy, it's a long one, clocking in at over 2 minutes!

"Avant le tic" is a ridiculous showcase for my god-awful attempt to speak French. At least Mark did the best he could with the echos and such. Thanks, sweetie. "A mystical journey" is drabbish, high-quality background music until the vocals get a little out of control toward the end. "Oh, won't you..." is a nice example of what Mark can do with his voice if he puts a little effort into it and stops himself from making all those stupid noises and curses like a Touretter.

I think the lyrics of song 22 pretty much covers that it. The Terrierarian song is nice, a funny reminder of one day we spent walking around the lower east side laughing. "Separation" has potential, but falls a little flat and feels a little long on the 4 track. But the end line of "My songs..." is accurate, and nicely recorded for a change. "A song written and sung" is one of my favorites, with wonderful music and wacky voices. "Hot cross buns" is just fantastic, like a better Velvet Underground song. And "I can't use a urinal..." is my absolute number-one favorite Mark Prindle song of all time. It may even be my favorite song of all time period. Here's an example of Mark's combination of tone and tackiness strike, ahem, gold!

"Facts..." has lyrics too silly for my taste and music that sounds like a re-hash of something the Flaming Lips did. "Men masturbate..." I find funny simply because it's actually what one of my co-workers thought-and she was almost 30 years old! "The secret to how I'm a jillionaire" is a catchy, winning song, though.

Although Mark derides "F-C-G" in the song itself, I think it's one of the highlights of the album. This is the song that makes me turn up the volume and smile. I don't necessarily like the tit reference, but the line "I wrote it with my knee" almost makes up for that. To all the fans of Mark's unconventional stuff: is there something I'm missing? Am I just another soulless clone of Gen-X-MTVers?

Similarly, "I suck..." would be nice, except for the lyrics. I've said it before and I'll say it again: male genitalia is just not a very interesting topic of discussion. Well, post-college at least.

"Mark D. Prindle," like the man himself, is very smart and entertaining. I think this is one of his innovations, looking for visual instead of auditory patterns on the guitar. I'm impressed. "I was pleased to hear..." is another good one, and "Stop the bloody slaughter!" a fine parody. "That crazy old man..." has a nice feeling in the beginning, but gives way to fuzzy-bassy stuff in the middle. "Reprehensible act" has guitars that sound like me brushing my teeth, but has nice loud funny lyrics.

"I adore and cherish..." is good and jangly, the way I like it. "Lookin' at the meter" is Sonic Youth-y and ironic... which doesn't really fit in with the Prindle persona, but I like it nonetheless. "Things in New York City..." is more in keeping with his style, and is more of a musical success. "Happy birthday Winky" is a nice thought, and I am pleased with the effort put into it, but I'd personally prefer a more uptempo birthday song next time. At least "We need anarchy!" follows it and provides more spunk.

There are a few...ok, more than a few... annoying-noise songs that I'm not particularly fond of, such as "The happy day sun good," "Hare Krishna..." "Pisspoor excuse for a shoehorn," "I would appreciate it if you would desist..." and more. Plus, there's some slower songs that don't really make the cut either, like "Shutuppayouface," "Is it just me or do people who enjoy..." and "Query of the genius." At least we have fewer twisty-speed-and-volume knob tricks this time around, but I would like to see Mark make an effort to reduce the little-boy profanity of his lyrics while still retaining the anti-P.C. content. He's so smart that it's really a shame to have his balls be a featured topic in nearly every song.

The other annoying aspect of this album is that the requisite picture of me makes me look like I've had my neck replaced with an elephant's leg.

Overall, Mark's time spent 'Zaccin has come out allright, but I think there's greater things for him in the future.

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(Dave Wagner reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 9

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, what can I say about "Keep On Zaccin'"... I promised this review about four years ago, but my unfounded allegiance to "Ben Stein's Money" combined with a busy masturbation schedule has kept my fingers off the keyboard and Mark sitting in agonizing anticipation. While Zaccin' isn't quite as enjoyable as Smoke Inhalation (the concept of that one, like the Chris Elliott classic Cabin Boy, is just too hilariously orgasmic to beat), it's still an INCREDIBLY enjoyable little record - and as Mark once said to me, this one is completely 100% HIS vision, and thus gives the listener (and by listener, I mean "Al Franken") more of an insight into the twisted compilation of penis jokes that is Mark's brain.

Musically, this has more of a stress on the guitar interplay antics that I love so dear (the gorgeous "Components of A Mixture", in particular), and on warped post-punk noise. This means that while the album lacks the hysterical identity crises madness of "Smoking", it's style is a better fit, resulting in less hit or missin' for the Prind. Mark's really great at this stuff, kids!!! As usual, he pushes every one of those four tracks as far as they can go - it's minimalism, but it never SOUNDS like minimalism. His lyrics are the same bounding across the map non-sequitors, but when the boy hits the mark (teehee), he....uh, hits it. And your damn right, buddy - us smokers ARE more attractive. Just ask my hideous friend Jeff from high school!

So, to close in closing, you shouldn't drink too much orange juice, because it will make you have to buy more orange juice. Toodles!

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(Chris Willie Williams reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 9

With Keep on Zaccin's opening track, the five-minute "Separation of the Components of a Mixture," Prindle announces that his songwriting has taken a newly traditional turn: the song is satisfyingly twisty, but maintains an accessible pop structure free from the topsy-turvy japery of his previous record. Then, with the matter-of-fact flip-flopping of a New York Times editorial correction, Mark spends the next 70 minutes nullifying that announcement by diving even farther into experimental hyperactivity than before. It's mostly amazing, too- over the course of 65 tracks (most less than a minute and a half long), all commonly-held notions about what constitutes a "song" are challenged, squashed, or simply ignored, and you're left with a big hopeless pile of hooks that teasingly vanish before they have a chance to hook you, ear-burningly weird noise clusters, and melodies that eat themselves alive. Lest my description should make Zaccin' sound like a lengthy, "Revolution 9"-esque exercise in random sounds, though, let me assure you that the entire record is closer in tone and spirit to early Butthole Surfers, They Might Be Giants' "Fingertips," and the Thinking Fellers' whimsical muckery than to any self-indulgent post-rockers you'd care to name. (The endearingly strange "Avant-Garde? No! Stupid and Boring!" should silence any naysayers.)

Ultimately, the wondrous thing about Zaccin' is that it is less a cohesive album than a fascinating collection of musical moments, all strung together in a feat of channel-surfing hysteria. The catchy "My Songs Would be Significantly Less Sucky If I Bothered to Save Up for More Powerful Recording Equipment" is undercut by the furious "Internet Pornography Gives My Boner an Erection" (great Gibby Haynes impression on that one), which immediately bottlenecks into the ominous, flanger-powered "Spooky Guy with a Mustache," which, in turn, is contradicted by Brenda Aske Prindle (Mark's wife) belting out the merry "Dogs Galore!" and so on. There is a certain overreliance on the four track's speed control knob here, which seems to substitute for inspiration on a dozen or so tracks, and the album bogs down a bit in the middle, with too much noisy bluster that feels like a mental gangbang after awhile. However, when you've got innumerable moments of genius (the backing vocals on "I Suck a Big Ol' Peen," or the terrifically stupid "A Hilarious Riddle Which Begins as Follows: 'What Do You Call a Person Whose Diet Consists Solely of Jack Russell Terriers?'" to name a couple) scattered throughout the disc, you won't mind sifting through a little bit of rubble.

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(Denver Johnson reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 7

Rock is for stupid people! This is a declaration Mark so proudly declares at one point on this, his sophtmore solo release. Judging from the looks of things, one can't help but feel he truly feels the way. His songs are filled to the brim with vulgarity and offensive jokes. That's just the way the man is. Take it or leave it.

Listening to this album reminds one of listening to Chicago XX by Mark's old band The Low Maintenance Perennials. Where some material on Mark's last solo release Nature's Smelly Ass seemed like Mark had developed a great sense of pop craft. Here, he dumps that side of him, to bring us his noisiest solo album yet.

This album fixes mistakes, but also makes more. The melodies on this album are actually pretty good, for the most part, unlike Nature's Smelly Ass, where sometimes it seemed like melodies were sacrificed for jokes. However, musically, Mark isn't really advancing. In fact, in some ways, he's sort of backtracking. With as much as I love The Low Maintenance Perennials's knack for offensive punk and loud noise, Mark's Nature's Smelly Ass showed that the man was actually a strong musical talent, creating some of the most gorgeous guitar noise I've heard it quite some time.

I also miss the serious side of Mark, which really only the surfaces on the opening "Separation Of The Components Of A Mixture." That's alright, though, because like I said, Mark has definitely matured melodically. No songs on here would ever be a candidate for hit single, but how can you not adore the giddiness of "Dogs Galore!" How can you resist the spooky pop of "The Happy Day Sun Good," or the straight from hell prog rock of "A Mystical Journey Through The Realms Of Fantasy (Movement One)."

Mark's sense of humor has improved a great deal as well. Where before he seemed intent on only dick and poop jokes, here he really has a point in his humor, like the hilariously observant "That Crazy Old Man Eating Out Of The Trash Was Funny" or the deliriously self-depracating "I Can't Use A Urinal 'Cuz I'm A Pussy."

All in all, it is a fine album. It is by no means a failure. However, brighter things were to follow. But let's no get ahead of our selves, shall we?

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(Daniel Miller reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 8

Here's come Mark with another offering full of wacky genre jumping good times. I must admit I prefer Stop Drop and Roll a little bit, but there's plenty of stuff to keep you entertained, such as "I Have No Interest In Entertaining Anybody Except Myself." The epic opening track "Components of a Mixture" is a very nice number, as well as the longest one I noticed anyway. As has been noted, the low rumble and deep menacing voice on "Those Around Me Recieve the Majority of Our News from Yahoo" bears a resemblance to Godflesh, particularly "Locust Furnace" and Mark's death voice puts Chris Barnes to shame... Elsewhere, Mark proclaims his love for Cadillac Man on "Cadillac Man Fan" (I prefer Death to Smoochy myself) and lets us know "I Adore and Cherish My Occupation Job" before George W. took it away. This tune has nice bouncy riff and neat pounding from the always present drum machine, followed by another killer riff on "F.C.G." And how can you argue with the opening riff and vocal changes on "Internet Pornography Gives My Boner an Erection." I liked that 45 seconds of that one enough that I ran over to my dictonary to find the definitions for "pornography," "boner" and "erection". Hey, so that's what those things are called... you learn something new everyday I guess. Cool stuff all around, Mark providing the listeners with a plethora of different voices and riffs to keep you flipping through for more cool short songs for days on end. So enjoy or (and this time I swear to spell 'ignore' right) ignore at your own risk. On this album, Prindle continues to prove he can pump out neato short tunes by the dozen, and given a chance would be right at home on some indie label somewhere. Pass the hat and let's help get the man an 8 track...

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(Billy Barron reviews) Keep On Zaccin'!: Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen "Prozac" (Fluoxetine)

Rating = 5

If I had taken your original advise and bought one album, I might have picked this one because I love the title and then I probably wouldn't have picked up the rest. None of the songs are catchy to me, but at least none of them bother me either.

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* (Mike DeFabio reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation *

Rating = 10

Ahem.

Stop Drop And Roll is nothing short of a masterpiece. One would think that a superambitious concept album chronicling the entire history of rock and roll would sink under its own weight, but the brilliant quirkiness we've come to expect from Mark Prindle keeps it afloat. More fans like Keep On Zaccin' because it's the "big, deep, introspective album," but this is unquestionably Prindle's finest solo album thus far, for three reasons. First of all, his songwriting is at an all time high. There's barely any filler, and even the ones I don't particularly like obviously has a lot of work put into them. Secondly, the concept album format works in the album's favor because previous Prindle albums lacked structure--the albums end when the tape runs out. Here, Mark's working within a specific framework, which gives the album a cohesion that the other two lack. And thirdly, because of the album's concept, the album is his most diverse yet, and at the same time it flows more smoothly than any of his previous albums--one could easily call this Prindle's White Album, or at least his Chocolate And Cheese.

Highlights are too numerous to mention, but I'll try--the Chuck Berry-ish "Rock 'Till You Drop," with lyrics protesting the Korean war; the "Witch Doctor" parody "Mee Mi Mee Mee Mo Mo Mee," which comes dangerously close to crossing the line between funny and just plain scary; the hysterically wholesome Pat Boone parody "Heckhound On My Trail"; the unbelievable tackiness of "Surfin' Taps"; the gut-bustingly hilarious Robert Plant impression at the end of "Large Collection Of Blues Comin' Down"; "Country Boy Down South," which is every bit as catchy as it is obscene; the menacing death boogie of "Disco Jaws" featuring the unforgettable chorus: "He'll bite you, bite you, 'cos he's Disco Jaws!"; the astonishingly accurate Iron Maiden impression "Death Of A Salesman"; "Hot Rockin' 2Nite," which takes the very concept of live albums and skins it alive with a sinister grin and a funny Peter Frampton imitation at the end... I'd mention more, but you'd just be listening to the album vicariously through me when you're supposed to be emailing Mark and asking him to make you a copy! Please buy this reasonably priced work of genius. It's a non-stop action-packed edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster thrill-ride!

Did I mention that it's JANKLY????

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(Nathan Brewer reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation
Rating = 9

When I was told "Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation" was going to be a concept album, I didn't really know what to expect. Many 'classic' concept albums are either a long (and often overly pretentious) rock opera, or a bunch of songs tied together by vague symbols and themes. I initially suspected it might be poking fun at ELP or Genesis, kind of like the rock operas found on Stupid Is Such A Broad Term. I was half right, the album does make fun of ELP directly (in "Tarkus Is A Boner"), but in addition to that, it pokes at almost every genre there is. Since Mark often does this anyways, dedicating an entire album to it isn't that big of a reach for him, but it is still quite a bit of fun. In fact, I'd say that this is Mark's best album since he went solo. Like all of his albums, there are a handful of songs that don't work, but the ones that do work are among his best compositions. The production is a bit muddy, but thats only a minor complaint, as one tends to not notice it after the first few songs. The first half of the album is actually my favorite part, as it pays homage to the traditional rock and roll sound, many taking influence from the 50's ("Rock Til You Drop, "My Poppa Is A Square Old Fuck", "Lonesome As A Colored", etc). The second half ot the album is still good, though the parodies of the genres become far less apparent. Still, there are great stabs and slashes at death metal, just listen to the incredibly br00tal lead guitar work in "Evil Lurks". Other highlights include "I'm A Girl", the much deserved mockery of all that horrid pseudo-intellectual riotgrrrl bullshit, and the absolutely hilarious cover of the Slayer classic "Angel Of Death". I'm not sure if Mark was shooting for a gothic version of it, but it sort of sounds that way. The low pitched "ohhhhhhh" at the beginning in the place of Tom Araya's high pitched wail is reason alone to get this CD. While this album isn't as good as the best of the LuMP's work, it certainly rivals it. A well-deserved nine.

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(Adam Bruneau reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation
Rating = 9

Today I picked up an LP on red vinyl by a Japanese hardcore punk band named Gasoline, burned a CDr of moog interpretations of Brandenburg Concertos, listened to the double-disc set of Momus's "Stars Forever", and spent an hour or two reading essays on the state of pop music, written by cynical, tired music critics. I was going to wait to write this review and listen to the album later, but I figured what the fuck....I'm in a good mood!

Writing a review of any recorded work by Sir Mark Prindle in the traditional sense is out of question, and so is listening to his work. You have to dig down deep, looking not to the music (God no, not the music!) but past the music, to the lyrics, to the cover art, to the way the lyrics are sung, to the way the world crumbles around it, to the way the album title is even written on the actual CDr.

You see, when you come across a disc with the ol' Mark Prindle name carved across the front, you just know what you're in for (or you should). An epic, sloppily put together collage of songs and sounds and genres. Songs with lyrics so funny and damn clever you want to kill. Vocals that are haphazard and completely out of tune, sung with the sarcastic, disillusioned sting of a classic punk rocker, but the seriously-who-gives-a-shit attitude of a gen x alt rocker. It's kind of pointless at this point for me to even attempt to point out "standout tracks" because for me, it's all one giant wash of noise. Thanfully, all of the tracks are strung together in the sort of manner that people like Frank Zappa and Cornelius use(d) to help convey their own artistic messages. I couldn't imagine Prindle's work any other way.

Compared to the other Prindle product I've heard (Chicago XX by LuMP), this is "softer" in terms of actual volume, but I think that the way in which he twists sounds and instruments around gives us a much harsher view of his music. In the beginning of the album, we are taken back to semi-parodies of older rock genres (country, classic rock, doo-wop) and from there it just goes off in a wild tangent. Jokes start and sometimes they finish, sometimes they don't, but they always leave you in stiches. Compared to past products, it sounds as if Mark is making his music more thoughtfully. As if the insane amount of reverb on the vocals was arrived at methodically. As if the stereo effects aren't just some guy twiddling knobs. As if he thinks about it...just a little bit...before he tosses the guitar out the window.

But if you know Prindle, you know that one of the best parts of the album is the actual packaging! The title to this one...a long overdue shut-up call to the assholeian PC anti-smoke campaign...is well worth the price of the disc. And never one to let us down, Mark has continued with the stellar quality of the actual song titles as well. "My Poppa is a Square Old Fuck"? "Jesus Loves I, Yes Me Know"? "My Penis Goes In Your Daughter's Vagina"? Here's one for you: "Gazing Through the Shadows of Eternity (A. Renaissance of the Mind; B. The Lessons of the Sage; C. The Battle for Infinity)". Yes folks, that was the title for ONE SONG!!!!

The music itself (which in this case is really a moot point) jumps from genre to genre like a much more biting and yet lazy version of Beck, and there are parts that mimic classic rock, barbershop quartet, country, punk, psychedelic rock, and my personal favorite of bossa nova....although a bossa nova flooded with distorted wah-wah guitars. It's not really as if the genres even are "jumped" from, but rather they are all plopped together in a giant soup of sonic foolery. Mark doesn't lament the postmodern world where everything worth doing has already been done, and he doesn't wield it like an ironic tool. Approach-wise, this album is more Ramones than Beck, more Johnny Rotten than Momus. I don't doubt that he's conscious of how ironic everything he does is, but I'm sure he doesn't care, and that's incredibly admirable.

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(Mattro reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation
Rating = 8

Mark Prindle's SD&R:AMCODBSI effortlessly hops from one musical genre to the next and has a surprisingly tight mix despite its DIY low budget-ness. I hear punk, speed-metal, blues, techno, hip hop, all kinds of stuff (even elevator music) all living together in peace and harmony.

As with past Prindle (and LuMP) releases, this new disc is funny as hell. Relentlessly so. As a comedian or a musician this guy is talented! I have only one question: why isn't Mark Prindle a millionaire already? Someone discover this guy, quick! If I was somebody... I'd discover him and get very rich myself.

Anyway, there are 55 tracks on this hyperactive 72minute cd. I'll be sorting out my favorites for weeks to come, but here are a few songs I liked right off the bat: The dirgey blues of "Talkin' Lemon Devil Woman Blues..." The rockin "I Ain't Leavin'" with its great punchline; "Lollipops and Daffodils and Cinnamon and Spice" is cool and sounds like early Wall of Voodoo; "Gazing Through the Shadows..." is as emotional and epic as an almost four minute long song can get; "Country Boy Down South" is hilarious and has a great boot to hook.

I found "Apotheosis of a Jive Turkey" to be quite menacing; "I Love to Rock.." contains a clever knock on the Chemical Brothers; "Hot Rockin' Tonight (live)" is fun and wanky; "Slightly Warm Medina" is so funny it makes me pee my pants; The track "Get Your Knitting Needle Out of My Ass" serves as dire warning about truth and consequence; and Brenda does a lovely guest vocal on the controversial "I'm a Girl (Girl Power)".

Mark has trouble sitting still for long periods of time. He is also a distraction to the other kids in the class. 8 out of 10 from me!

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* (Dave Wagner reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation *
Rating = 10

I don't know Mark, to be honest. We both love the Cows like adopted Iranian Gypsy prostitutes, but let's just say schlamapadoo, 'cause it's fun. I'm also not terribly familiar with his work. About a year ago, I bought the LuMP's first record and enjoyed the cussing and silly voices enormously ("I Wanna Buttfuck The Pope" would be an underground classic if so many homeless people weren't Catholic), but then, I've heard LOTS of lo-fi rock bands that write songs about poop. We're a damn genre these days. Minutes passed, and I found other poorly recorded racket that amused me and got on with my life, which consists mostly of... umm, er, ah, writing songs about poop.

So anyway, I'm in the unique position of being able to tell you assorted internet peeps just how much Mark has progressed over these ten or so years. These days he sticks more to a noise-pop aesthetic, and while he still gets bored after a couple verses and ends most of the songs in exactly the same half-assed manner (throwing in a line about anal sex being the most popular method), a couple things became clear to me during the course of this record: a) Mark has become a MEAN geet and, unexpectedly, bass player in his old age, A) his social commentary is now as entertaining as almost anything Jello Biafra wrote in his entire career, and A) the kid can write a fookin' pop song.

Man, can he. As I was tellin' him the other day, his songs remind me of Syd Barrett - fat, bald, simple simple simple melodies that are nonetheless SO unexpectedly perfect that any songwriter that knows what he's doing suddenly feels like a total moron for not thinking of them first. That's magic, my friends, and maybe genius - and I think innate quality is just a notion smart people use to feel good about themselves!

Chances are you all know the rock-history-as-filtered-through-Mark concept by now, and it's ridiculously ambitious, not to mention admirable (and successful a lot more than you'd expect - "Hot Rockin' 2Nite" sounds just like Cheap Trick, for instance). Sometimes he even pulls a Spinal Tap - that being making a parody better and catchier than that which it is parodying. Boy bands have never gotten as catchy as "Girl I Love You Girl", and I've never heard a disco pop tune as sublime and blissful as "Disco Jaws". It's just another case to prove my longstanding hypothesis that underground punk songwriters could flood the market with beautiful pop songs if they wanted to, they just don't. And as my good friend George F Will would say, "Thank God for that, pussy, and the Jesus Lizard!"

As cool as the concept is and as much as I liked that tangent, I hardly even pay attention to it because of this next very important line that I'm about to write: I have the attention span of a squirrel and other less mobile things found in underbrush I like News Radio. Also, Mark did the right thing and made the concept subordinate to the songs, which are crammed with so many ideas that they make nearly every songwriter in existince sound obscenely normal and boring. He's squeezing the ideas of a sixteen-track on to a four-track (I think), which makes it a bit tough to tell what the hell he's trying to imitate sometimes, but also keeps him honest. Just listen to the way "Jesus Loves I Yes Me Know" comes together and try NOT to get that tingly pop-rush thing going. Yeah.

The predictable thing to say would be, "Wow! Imagine what Mark could do with a budget and better equipment! Wow!", but it would also be kind of misguided. He's making great records now - pull the cord, buy the ticket, take the ride. It's brilliant. It's funny. It makes me feel like a hack. This is the best album of the year - I proudly award it a ten with glowing masturbatation.

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(Zach English reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation
Rating = 7

This is a good album, but it seems intent on making me think how, if Mark actually made an effort to edit, pare down, and streamline his songwriting techniques, he could make a great one. I understand the whole "more is better/minimalism rules!" philosophy that Mark lifts from Pink Flag and the Minutemen and the Ramones, but the simple fact remains for me that if he focused harder on the development of each melody and stretched each song out, his albums would hit me more emotionally than they do. This method worked for those bands because their minimalism was a natural outcome of their spare instrumentation; on this album, Mark's attempt at scope (heaps and heaps of songs, just like every other CD he's put out) falters because his arrangements are ALL OVER THE PLACE.

As it is, each song drifts by in just over a minute or so, refusing to stick in your brain and taunting you with threats that the next one will be even better. One thing is for certain: Mark is a terribly talented songwriter when he wants to be. He's listened to enough Fall records to understand that strong guitar interplay and memorable bass riffs can carry a tune, and about half the songs on here are definite keepers. Another huge influence here is Ween. Many songs even sound like something Dean and Gene might have cooked up in their earlier days.

I also enjoy the whole concept of recreating rock history. Who the fuck else would undertake something like that?

Another thing Mark should work on is his lyricism. This is probably a result of his "more/simple" technique rather than a cause, but his words run the gamut from hilarious to banal to pointless to brilliant. Too many lines here seem choppy and rushed; as if he was simply racing to get to the next melody instead of developing the song and challenging the listener. Ever heard "OJ Simpson", that old LuMP chestnut? Then you know what this guy's capable of (assuming of course that Mark had a hand in writing that song; I wouldn't know one way or the other).

I'm criticizing this honestly because I could never picture Mark wanting anyone to kiss his ass. He TRULY is a good songwriter. And, in the future, if he chooses to focus his talent he could come through with a masterpiece. As it is, what we have is a quirky, funny, occasionally stunning collection of songs that show what potential the guy really does have.

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(Nick Leu reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation
Rating = 9

By this point in these reviews, you, the readers, already know the concept, background info etc. behind this album. So I'll skip to the part where I explain why I saw fit to award this compact disc nine dots. This reason is?.....cause I like the songs and enjoy listening to them. Profound? No.

That said, the execution of the concept leaves some to be desired. But it was recorded on a four-track, so I ain't about to bitch. Besides, the point of this appears to be just to pay tribute to/make fun of the history of rock music, not to mimic each individual phase of it with meticulous perfection. It sounds like it was fun to record, and it's certainly fun as hell to listen to.

Even if you ignore the concept, most of the songs are very catchy, and many have gotten stuck in my head since I received this disc. I really like the singin' in "Innocence Lost", the guitar melody in "Country Boy Down South" the....ah fuck it. Attempting to describe what is good about a song to people who haven't heard it is pointless. You internet people are gonna hafta check it out for yerselves, so hard friggin' poop.

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* (Brenda Aske reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation *
Rating = 10

Mark's on FIRE!!!!

I can't stress enough how genius this album is. Mark stretches his reach over decades of diverse musical styles ranging from blues to boy-bands, essentially chronicling the development of rock. What's especially great is that these aren't straight parodies a la Weird Al; they're original interpretations. But although this individualism provides a more interesting listening experience, it obscures the 'concept' of this concept album. Well, if a slightly hidden meaning is the expense of something so aurally appealing, I'll take it any day. Mark's craziness, fast tempos, and fantastic humor make this album a winner from start to finish. That's why I think it deserves a 10.

The CD starts out strong with 'Talkin Lemon Devil Woman Blues,' which has vocals that don't sound like Mark at all. Next, a tribute song to my dad, 'Rock Til you Drop.' This completely impresses me because Mark has revealed himself to be one of the first people to have listened to something my parents said and give spontaneous recall of it months later, notably, my dad's story of being trapped in the Chosin valley during the Korean War.

'Why Must I be a Teenager' is a harmonic ode with a weird-ass interlude that sounds something like, 'grrr-WAMP!,grr-WAMP!' 'Mee Mi Mee Mee Mo Mo Mee' is the Chipmunks gone hardcore. The juxtaposition of innocence and evil is akin to an early Hustler magazine.

'Innocence Lost' seems to be more modern than its position in the musical timeline. It sounds more like earlyish stuff from the Cure. Following it is 'Heckhound on my Trail,' which is eerily minimalist. The Venturesish 'Surfin' Taps' is another example of nice-meets-nasty, and has an impressive guitar noise in it as a bonus. Then we enter Motown, although the vocals sound a little womanish on 'I ain't leavin,' I really like it. In fact, I've been known to sing this in my head for weeks on end.

I believe 'Loving to love with you' is supposed to be like a Beatles song; and it succeeds in the chorus'but the rest sounds a bit grungy for this time period, probably due to the un-Fab Four-track. 'My Poppa is a Square Old Fuck' brings to mind the curly-lipped presences of Billy Idol and Iggy Pop. 'Lollipops and daffodils'' is a nice Donovan-inspired song, and is pretty and lilting in spite of the somewhat irritating keyboard noise.

'Gazing through the Shadows of Eternity'' is simply beautiful (which is good since it's almost 4 minutes long). I suppose this is Mark's version of an epic, kind of like Yes or something but it blows their hippie shit out of the water. Ric Wakeman, eat your heart out. Or should I save that line for 'Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America''

'Large Collection of Blues Comin Down' is a bit slow and grinding for my taste, and although I suggested the lyrics, I now regret it. In contrast, 'Country Boy Down South' is one of Mark's greatest hits. He shows off his awesome fast guitar skills, and also shows he knows when to take them away to let the vocals shine. 'Umweltvurschmitz Ungi' is kind of a letdown of an interlude, but then 'Jesus Loves I, Yes Me Know' picks up the pace again with its weird Jamaican sound.

'I Love to Rock' starts out as an over-the-top tribute to the big-haired rockers of the past, then ends up sounding like a bunch of free-range chickens at feeding time. I love it! Then again we return to the Idol/Iggy genre with 'I Ain't no Party Pooper.'

Finally, we reach 'Disco Jaws.' What can I say about this? The catch of the day, The catchiest song of the year' I don't know; I'm too busy shaking my booty to write!

I'm sure Mark put a lot of effort into the dueling guitar sound of 'Death of a Salesman,' but I find that it's one of the less-endearing songs in the bunch. Maybe if the vocals were toned down it would be clearer for me. 'She Brings her Love to Me' is a sweetly-sung song, which is aptly followed up by the punk 'Tarkus is Boner.' 'I find Myself attracted to a Young Man in my Home Economics Class' is another significant Prindle success. But wait'the best is yet to come, and is deserving of its own paragraph.

'Hot Rockin 2Nite (Live)' is so far beyond anything Mark has ever done that I can't find the superlatives to describe it. The music is dead-on, the jokes never fall flat, and I'm told that the drum solo would not be possible for a standard 2-armed drummer to play, which I find amusing also. What Mark does with a simple screaming sample would make any rap artist jealous.

'Spastic Penguin Guy' starts out nicely off-kilter, but drags on too long, kind of like the Reagan presidency. The next song that distinguishes itself is 'Slightly Warm Medina,' Mark's hilarious old-school rap cover.

I think the tune that's in the beginning of 'My penis'' is the same as the rubber-tree plant song on Keep on Zaccin', but I'll let that slide since the lyrics say that he loves me. 'Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich' is mega-funny and appropriately bombastic. 'Cereal Box' out-Sebadohs Sebadoh, but Mark makes it ok by openly mocking how easy it is to use a single voice and lo-fi guitar to make teenaged girls cry.

And then Mark reaches the late 90's. I know he hates this Green Day-311-Offspring crap, but he does it so well! 'Get your Knitting Needle,' 'I like Smoking Joints,' and 'The end of the Party' have more musical virtue than most of those little post-punk pests could ever muster. 'I'm a Girl,' sung by me, is one where, against all odds, Mark makes me sound good. His voice-coaching ability is to be admired for this.

I wasn't going to say anything about 'S&M Bondage domination Snowball' because I never liked hearing it at home and didn't even appreciate its NIN-like sound even after I found out that's what it's supposed to be, but on the single, one-inch in diameter speaker on my iMac, it sounds pretty damn good. It's still overshadowed by the Puffed version of 'Angel of Death,' though. That initial 'whooaaaaaaa' is worth a million bucks.

Mark's techno song (featuring Oscar the Grouch in a choice sample) and swing songs are also excellent. And as an ending note, 'The Post-Man only Rings Untrue' is lovely, and feels emotionally correct.

This is'to me'clearly the best album that Mark has ever created. The great songs reach new highs of Prindledom, and even the filler songs are satisfying. Congratulations, Mark. If you keep this up, I'm going to get you an 8-track for Christmas.

Reader Comments

knowstev@med.umich.edu (Steven Knowlton)
Judging from the back cover, Brenda is very pretty young lady with a nice enough voice, and it's a shame she got dragged into this pile of unredeemed vulgarity.

Other than that, you can't beat this album with a stick!

Add your thoughts'

(CB Smith reviews) Stop, Drop And Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation
Rating = 9

What the hell was I thinking? As recently as a few days ago I was seriously considering giving this album a seven out of ten. Really, what the hell? Fortunately, I was rescued from folly by Brenda Aske's review; I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything, so I listened to the album again.

Of course, I had missed something. Now, I still defend the reasoning that was making me vacillate between a seven and an eight. Whatever other merits the album has, the fact that it is a purposeful recapitulation of rock meant that not as much strangeness was in the offing. You know the kind I'm talking about: the vicious mid-song changes of direction, the lurching hectic interplay of awful guitar noises, the inappropriate mixing, the grade-school-goofy funny voices and basically the entire suite of irritating, fascinating gimmicks that makes me a proud member of the Low-Maintenance Perennials, and an unabashed promoter of Prindle's talent. All of that would be diminished.

And it is. Despite a few moments when the listener is assaulted by high weirdness, for the most part the presence of rock-history's specter dampens the crazy excursions into unknown territory, if by no other way than by taking up space that might've been otherwise filled with zaniness. When I was away from the album, that stayed foremost in my mind.

But when you actually sit down and listen to the thing, all that disappears in a rush of energy. Mark doesn't adhere strictly to the rock formulas he's ostensibly emulating (things like "Loving to Love With You" and "Apotheosis of a Jive Turkey" don't even sound close), but he does capture the one aspect that made rock'n'roll the fifty-ton behemoth it is today, and that is the sense of discovery.

These aren't the songs Mark would normally write. That does mean, as I had recognized, that some of the strongest, most personal elements of his style are missing; but it also means that you get to hear Mark Prindle stumble around a huge open field of new, different sounds. And ladies and gentlemen, hearing Mark stumble is far more entertaining than hearing Joe Satriani dance nimbly.

Raucous good fun ensues, ranging wildly around the source material, but always questing and turning up gems. The same inexplicable brain ability that allows him to create "Garden of Ukeleles" or "Jogging is the Bestest" here perverts 50s rock-pop into "Rock 'Til You Drop," whose chorus Mark may have tossed in for the sheer sound of it, but which summons up a wonderful wide-ranging image of historical America. It turns a decadent, hedonist social movement into cutey-pie antics with "Disco Jaws." And so on, and so on. Eschewing accurate remakes, Mark manages to infuse every genre with something new, wrong for the period, perhaps, but good for the ears. This is a history of rock construed as if Mark Prindle was in every rock band ever. That's a good thing.

Provided you like more distortion than usual.

There are still weaknesses. He tried his best to be exhaustive, and demanding certain products from himself made it inevitable that some would contain little drive ("I Want 2 Phunk U Up"); what satisfies is how often he delivers anyway. Things like "Surfin' Taps" are accurate but boring; by contrast, the 80s/90s pastiches are spot-on. Both his Soundgarden tune ("Let It Down Slowly"?perfect!) and his Offspring one ("Get Your Knitting Needle Out of My Ass!") are fierce condemnations of the repetitive sterility of their styles, while simultaneously providing the backhanded compliment of being extremely catchy anyway.

Were I to wish for improvements, among them would be more harmony vocals. Mark has a lifelong fan's ear for pretty singing, and Zaccin' was chock-full of it. Here, the guitars and keyboards shoulder more of a burden, leading to catchier, smoother songs with less beauty. And while he does a man's job of fitting his gonzo lyrical sensibility to a wide range of eras, very few hit the peaks of something like "Joe the Sucky McDonald's Guy," where you just want to reach through the speakers and shake his hand for writing something so funny (with "Lonesome as a Colored" being a notable exception).

Though not "accessible," Stop, Drop, and Roll is nevertheless easy. Easy to listen to, easy to enjoy, and not half as aggressively off-putti