Mr. Bungle - Mr. Bungle > Reviews > Bunglecious

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Fishbone meets Faith No More in a train crash
Disadvantages:	not everyones taste because it is quite schizophrenic

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Mr Bungle is possibly a band you have never heard of, but don’t feel ashamed. Mr. Bungle formed in 1985 in Eureka California. They took their name from a short educational program about a boy who was unhygienic and generally not nice to be around, the school clown. It was pointed out to them later that Mr. Bungle was the name of a character in a porn movie.

The original lineup of the band consisted of Mike Patton (Vocals), Trevor Dunn (Bass), Trey Spruance (Guitar) and Jed Watts (Drums). The first demo was Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny (1986), consisting of eight tracks of death / thrash metal that shows the bands musical capability, but not their uniqueness. The next demo, Bowel Of Chiley (1987) really shows the uniqueness of Mr. Bungle, mixing ska, funk, punk and metal. Sounding more like Fishbone now, the band released Godammit I Love America (1988), two songs of which are on this album (Egg, Carousel). The band then released OU818 (1989), which contains more songs destined for the debut album (Love is a fist, Girls of porn, Slowly growing deaf and Squeeze me macaroni). The band now had Danny Heifetz on drums instead of Watts. Faith No More had hired Mike Patton to sing and Warner Brothers cashed in on this by signing up Mr. Bungle.

This is first of three releases for Warner Brothers. It is a schizophrenic assault of punk, funk, metal, ska, jazz and various other styles, that will really make you sit up and listen. A friend of mine once said that the first time he heard it, he laughed all the way through because he had never heard anything like it before. It’s a fun, quirky album that it is virtually impossible not to like. The front cover has a rather evil looking clown, holding a match, on it. This album was released on 13 August 1991 and was produced by John Zorn.

Outstanding tracks:- Egg, Squeeze me macaroni, Girls of porn.

Suitability for kids? – not really, but I think any kid that has discovered Mr. Bungle has got some musical integrity and are probably mature enough to listen to it.

1. Quote Unquote (6.57)

So, you’ve put the CD in the player and pressed play… 35 seconds of near silence (There is actually someone snoring). Big choppy guitars and a bouncing bass line mostly drive this song. But like any Mr Bungle song it doesn’t remain as simple as that. The track goes into a very jazzy middle 8 before some organ mashing. Back to the bounciness and into a very laid back refrain which include the lyrics “Grease is the word, it’s the word…” which gives you a clue (not that it helps) as to the song subject. The track gets heavier and Patton’s vocal more manic. The word ‘Hermaphrodite’ catches the ear. Another jazzy / organ mashing section before the final verse and a very ambient end with ethereal aww’s and whoah’s.

The song was originally called Travolta but was changed at the request of Warner Bros to avoid any possibility of legal action. Quote Unquote is actually the name of an unautherised biography of Travolta. Even with the lyrics, it is difficult to understand what this song is about. One line says “Cuz he’s Hitler and Swayze and Trump and Travolta”.

A collage of sound ends the track. This includes a madly played sax a la Zorn and a train horn and a tiny bit of opera.

2. Slowly Growing Deaf (6.59)

This track starts with a short ska riff before going into a very easy listening bass and vocal section before the guitars come in for a chuga-chuga type section. Back to the ska riff and then a ska / shoo-wop / rock n’ roll section, back to ska and then video game music (From Super Mario Bros.). the driving guitar section is repeated before a very noisy and manic section with the chant of “Ears are ringing” and screaming. This calms down into the easy listening style, though it feels a little on edge as though it could explode at any minute. And explode it does, before dying down as quickly as before finishing.

This song is actually known as Sleep: part 1, part two and three appearing on a later album. The lyrics are again pretty much indecipherable but do seem to cocern going deaf and sounds and tinnitus.

Another collage of sound, this time with footsteps and the sound of someone on the toilet and someone messing up his lines in a recording studio.

3. Squeeze Me Macaroni (5.38)

This song is mostly straightforward. It is a Fishbone-esque funk / ska song with metal leanings. You can really appreciate how talented this band on this song. The lyrics are fast and furious and don’t give you a chance to be offended by them. The bass playing is slap at it’s finest, whilst the drums and guitar just try and keep up.

So, erm the lyrics… This song likens sex to food and food to sex and combinations therein. I’ll leave it at that.

The song ends with a party time groove at the end with samples of Dennis Hopper as Frank from David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Some speeded up music and some dialogue which is probably from a porn movie mark the end of the track.

4. Carousel (5.13)

Again, a very straight forward start, in a Fishbone ska style. The track gains a metal twist for the choruses before going like carousel music. “I think I’m gonna be sick… Blurgh blurgh…ha ha ha ha ha ha” the track closes on masses of laughter to the background of carousel music.

The lyrics mainly deal with the idea that life is some kind of twisted fairground full of freaks and stuff to drive you insane, whilst maintaining a sense of childhood fascination and enjoyment.

The track ends with more computer game sound effects (Cyclone).

5. Egg (10.40)

This is, again, more schizophrenic ska. It diverts to more metally sections and also a backwards section. The tracks gets ever weirder as the lyrics repeat “A chicken comes out of an egg, An egg comes out of a chicken” and degrades into shouting and big cinematic guitar chords before repeating “There’s no place like home”. This gets ever more insane, with laughing and crying and the music goes mad with guitars and drums, through your head until it explodes! Well, maybe not, but it is insane.

It sound weird but I think that this song likens the fear of love to the boiling of an end. There is some environment recording of the band jumping a train and talking followed by more videogame sounds.

6. Stubb (A Dub) (7.19)

This track starts of with a bit of chamber music (kinda) before a bit of a Burt Bacarach-esque bit. Then something that wouldn’t sound out of place on the Rocky Horrer Show. This is shortly followed by some manic carnival / ska music sped up to godknowswhat bpm. Big bouncy synth bass follows and then more manic carni-ska. The track continues to jump between all these styles to the end.

The lyrics seem to concern the growing old and dying of a family dog, Stubb, and how that death can teach a young kid about death, for which he sounds resentful.

The track ends with crying which apparently sampled from Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) from Blue Velvet.

7. My Ass Is On Fire (7.47)

This track starts with a very fractured and manic riff and grinding, screaming explosions which go into a metal type type riff. It has some nice changes of time signatures. Then funk bass and guitar crossed with metal. More metal with distorted vocals screaming “You knew all along, Godammit!” and “It’s not funny, my ass is on fire”. This is probably the more traditional metal song. This song again quotes (but doesn’t sample) Blue Velvet. The song then repeats “Re-Dun-Dant” ‘til the end of the song getting ever more manic and insane.

The lyrics hint at the degeneration of human body as it gets older.

There is a section of dialogue in a far eastern language followed by dialogue from the porn movie with the character Mr. Bungle in.

8. The Girls of Porn (6.42)

This is pure sleazy funk with a bit of metal riffage and samples of dialogue from porn movies.

The lyrics are all about sex, this time with no metaphors concerning food. This also contains the sample “I’d buy that for a dollar” from the video game, Smash Brothers. The track finishes with more recording like the end of ‘Egg’.

9. Love Is A Fist (6.00)

This track starts with a guitar riff that sounds reminiscent of the Bagpuss theme tune before getting more metal. This track has got some really good squealing saxophone in the style of Zorn. The chorus is very much more like Faith No More. On a lesser album, this would be a song just as good as any other, but here it doesn’t sound up to the same quality that the rest of the songs are. But in saying that the chorus is catchy (“Love is a fist!”).

The lyrics, as with the title, suggest themes of domestic violence.
The track ends with a sample from ‘Mr Bungle goes to lunch’, the aforementioned education program that the band got their name from.

10. Dead Goon (10.02)

The start of this track is seemingly unrelated noise with ethereal sighs, before finding a mutant ska beat. There is some superb bass playing on this track sounding like Jaco Pastorius (Arguably the best bassist ever). The music jumps between carnival-esque music and jazzy funk. Although this is a more mellow track than the rest, the stabbing organ chords and disturbing almost whispered passages are unnerving. The song breaks down into carnival / music box music which sound like the batteries are running down a little. It’s all slightly off key with a creaking sound in the background, which makes it even more unnerving. The noise builds and that’s the end of the song.

The lyrics talk about being bullied, pure and simple.

The album ends with Disney film style musak. And that’s it.

Do I recommend this album, well… of course I do. There are a couple of weak moments but I don’t think that they are weak outside the context of this album. I think that this album will appeal to fans of Fishbone and Faith No More. But, of course, Patton fans will already have this. I would also recommend to people into more experimental ska groups like Sublime, although it is a lot rockier.

The price is variable in all different places, so shop around.