Monkey Kong - A

Advantages: Old Folks,Summer On The Underground, I Love Lake Tahoe
Disadvantages: Not enough people own this CD

...3 extras and just called Monkey Kong. But never mind, I'm sure you'll cope and your brains won't explode. I love A, and this album is where it all started. It's been quoted at me in text messages, it's been played before gigs (we were ecstatic at deciphering Monkey Kong, and so happy that we started the Lake Tahoe chorus which made us a friend when he joined in) and it was the first A album I borrowed from my friends and bought. It will always have ...
...Monkey Kong is the very essence of A. Fun-loving, great choruses and silly bits in between verses. It's got it all. Anyway, on to the songs. For Starters - A song with bleepy bits and about how Jason loves being in A. The choruses are full of rocking guitars that characterise most of Monkey Kong and to an extent a lot of A’s music. . There’s some bitterness about the overlooking of A in the music press ("They hate me at NME") although that has changed ... Read review

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Yet another stonkingly good album from A. They just seem to go from strength to strength. This is just a blinding slice of pop-punk music. The track Old Folks is great going on about how old folks are losers. Then the singles I love Lake Tahoe and Summer on the Underground are fantastic. Then the fast short track Warning, the mellow track entitled A and For Starters make this album a real mix of styles and well worth a purchase. A are also a great ... Read review

Advantages: uk punk - happy, fun, but serious
Disadvantages: only that they're not headlining festivals

...fall off (ie: the song Monkey Kong), and a live show that easily out does any band on the planet (anyone see them at Reading 2000?) - aren't getting wall-to-wall airplay and top 10 singles like their yanky-cousins. Monkey Kong should have been the foot-in-the door of uk rock stardom, but alas, for all its genius, it still didn't manage to propel them into the super league. With catchy singalong odes to grandparents "Old Folks" which contains the ...
...grab a copy of A vs Monkey Kong (and their first album "How Ace Are Buildings" if you're rich) and be content in the knowledge that you were there one step ahead of the crowd. Oh yeah, by the way - their singer has a very squeaky voice! ... Read review

Advantages: quality original tracks
Disadvantages: none

‘A’ vs Monkey Kong is the second studio album from this London five-piece band released in 1999 through London Record. Their sound is a kind of punk rock with samples mixed into the music. This makes for a very original sound and it should make ‘A’ extremely big. The band consists of the following members (three of them brothers, guess who!): Jason Perry – Vocals Giles Perry – Keyboards & backing vocals Adam ...
...name was meant to be Monkey Kong. The album cover is a picture of a Gibbon in red against a black background and is quite striking. Through the inlay there are various tributes to the King Kong films. There are quite a few pictures of King Kong models, a reproduction movie type poster! The Monkey Kong album has the following tracks: 1.For Starters 2.Monkey Kong 3.A 4.Old Folks 5.Hopper Jonnus Fang 6.Summer On The Underground 7.Warning 8.If ... Read review

Advantages: Catchy tunes, very enthusiastic
Disadvantages: Somewhat lacking in inspiration

...a good time. I can’t say the record is terribly original, but A certainly know what they’re doing as far as this genre is concerned, ‘I Love Lake Tahoe’ is truly a pop masterpiece, and, in general, ‘A Vs. Monkey Kong’ is a pretty good, straightforward punky pop record. ... Read review

Advantages: pop-punk-rock singalong
Disadvantages: none!

...A must be the happiest band in the world, and who can say no a positive band in times where everyone seems to be complaining at what they have! A vs Monkey Kong is the follow up to the debut How ace are buildings?, and basically carries on from where it left off- more singalongs and melodies than you would believe! theres nothing offensive about these guys, and they just want you to have a good time, so just go ahead and do it! opener for starters bursts in setting the standard for the rest of the album, with jason perrys melodies sticking in your brain and showing the band raring to go. track 4 is titled old folks and was released as a single. bizarrely it celebrates old people and everything they stand for, with the lines 'i dont think, the old folks are losers...' the lyrics are both memorable and humorous. summer on the underground... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The song rocks. Comes with a great video. And the design is cool.
Disadvantages: Can't MP3 CD2 as it is interactive.

...I Love Lake Tahoe CD1: I Love Lake Tahoe, Monkey Kong Jr., I Love Lake Tahoe Radio Version. I Love Lake Tahoe CD2: I Love Lake Tahoe, Turn It Down, Old Folks, Old Folks Video Version. Well worth the eight quid I paid for them and the £4.40 train fare too. A singles from the previous albums (1997's How Ace Are Buildings and 1999's A Vs Monkey Kong) are hard to find. If you didn't buy them first time round, you're going to have a job getting them now. The best bet is to try second hand music shops - the Music and Video Exchange is quite good and it has branches round the country. Well, lots in London and one in Birmingham that I know of. Or you could ask other A fans if they have spares. I Love Lake Tahoe - I reviewed this in A Vs Monkey Kong ("It's just a name, they got it wrong", the one before this) Monkey Kong Jr. - Punky... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: It's one of the best albums of the year
Disadvantages: Made them so popular I have to pay £18 to see them instead of £10

...By now most people will have heard of A, after the release of Nothing in February. The opening track from A's third studio album Hi-Fi Serious marks a change from A's normal sound, with a much heavier riff which suited the sound popular at the time. This obviously means that many new A fans like Nothing and not much more. It's slightly galling when a song like Foghorn or I Like Lake Tahoe kicks off and people just ignore it, or even, as happened at Leeds, don't know the damn chorus. Fools. Hi-Fi Serious is more grown-up A. Relationships (Something's Going On, Shut Yer Face) vs being single (Sing-a-long, How Ace Are Buildings) and acceptance of mortality (Going Down) vs idyllic holidays (I Love Lake Tahoe, A Vs Monkey Kong). But they haven't lost their sense of humour, or their love of life and Van Halen guitar solos (Pacific Ocean... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful