Wheatus [ECD] - Wheatus > Reviews > Respect the Dirtbag Baby

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money

Advantages:	absolutely everything you could think of
Disadvantages:	poorly arranged

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Oh no!, hes writing in Music again!, whatever next, well nyah I'm feeling inspired so I'm going to tackle the album that I've sat down to review time and time again - Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you Wheatus, Respect the Dirtbag Baby.

I like music you know, I do, if I have one problem its that I quite often end up buying albums on a whim, Wheatus was one of those such Whims, in fact it was only because their cover of 'A Little Respect' was on the radio at my local Virgin Megastore that I bought the album and if one day in the future that DJ who played the record reads this well I'll say it now - thankyou.

Now then the CD - well I'll warn all potential listeners to the CD, its actually quite short, only 10 tracks long, and you may have heard 3 of them already but you've definitely heard 2, anyway on with the track listings:

1. Truffles - Openning up with the Big drums before lead singer Brendan starts with the line 'you, think you're such a bada**' in my eyes it probably wasn't the best way to open an album, the lyrics talk of a run-in with somebody who tries to act the big bad man, but is really nothing better than average, however the wording they've chose does make it seem a bit confusing at times.

Sounds wise well as with a lot of tracks on this album, it relies heavily on a catchy tune in the chorus played out with a good dose of Guitar, they've tried to put a rock-sound in here, and sorry it doesn't work too well, as their pop-leanings come through quite easily.

If I was honest the first time I heard this album and that track came on I held my head in my hands wondering if once again I'd bought the lame duck of the albums on offer at Virgin Megastore, luckily this is the worst track of a very good bunch.

2. Sunshine - A softer sounding track, openning up with and having a constant under-lying sound of maracas, this time we're getting a story of apologetic status, and has lines such as 'I was a jerk, I did the work for somebody else's dream', it doesn't sound that good when reading all of this on screen does it?

However taking the softer option as well as not taking the easy route of including a heavy guitar line has made this into a really laid-back and extremely easy sounding song, which re-installed my optimism as to what I was about to be hearing.

3. Teenage Dirtbag - Stand up if you haven't heard this one before, see you're all still sat down aren't you?, thought so - its a song that people either love or hate, as well as being added to the soundtrack to the Movie 'Loser', and personally I love it.

This song y'see is perfect Wheatus, it has the Pop undertones there especialy in the Chorus but its mainly Soft-Rock music, the big guitar sequences are there as ever, and Brendans voice is perfect for the track.

The storyline of the song?, well its obvious really isn't it?, we're hearing the tale of a 'geek' who falls for one of the top catches at his high school, only to see her going out with the football captain, she dumps the football captain for the geek but you knew that already didn't you?

This is one of the highlights of the album, closely followed by.........

4. A little Respect - aaaaaaaarggghhhhhh!, its a cover-version, I'm supposed to hate cover versions but not this time, see once again Brendans voice is perfect for the words of the track, and on top of this Wheatus have added their own unique sound to the original by Erasure.

Again you know the wording don't you?, this time its an 'I want you back' story, and its a hard one to review, see the Rock Under-tones of the track, make it sound almost as new, but still you can't help but close your eyes and see Erasure singing along, its good, its very good, its just I'm not sure why......... sorry.

5. Hump'Em N'Dump'Em - this time we have a weird one, it talks of giving fat to a cat, and paying rent, but all the time you can sense Brendan and the boys are just itching to get stuck into the guitar-pieces that are in the chorus.

What we also get is a 'quick-sounding' track, the line 'here we go again, another hump' em dump' em situation' gets repeated quite often, and it makes it seem as if they struggled trying to write lyrics to this one, it definitely doesn't sound bad, its just to me it doesn't sound great either, but definitely not a low-note to the album.

6. Leroy - Starting off with a quiet guitar beat, each aspect of this track is slowly faded into the forefront, and this slow-ness does make it stand out from the rest of the tracks, as shame its for the wrong reasons.

You see, when we do get to the chorus, they're back to their old ways and pushing out the guitars with plenty of force even taking time out to include what can best be described as 'an interesting solo-piece', but it all seems a bit tacked on with this track, and the quick sudden ending doesn't do anything for their chances and just feels like a last throw at giving a half-decen track.

7. Hey Mr.Brown - Now we're back into the groove, it opens up straight away with one of their heavier riffs on this Album, and once again theres no story-line to the track, this is just 4 guys getting together and enjoying their own music.

However this one is also the type of song you'll find yourself singing the lyrics in your head at the most inopportune times, for some reason even today I can't seem to find myself not singing along to the line 'Hey Mr Brown, don't have a Cow, just sock it to me' - I have no idea what they're trying to sing about, but its catchy, and surely thats got to be a good thing in music nowadays (and I'm not meaning catchy as in what everyone seems to rate S Club 7 nowadays.)

8. Love is a Mutt from Hell - Oh dear, its another slow one from the boys, but wait!, it actually sounds quite decent, the openning guitar makes the way for Brendan to almost 'talk' rather than sing the openning lines.

But wait again, here comes the Rock tones again, and although they do seem slightly out of place again, they're also extremely good, its one of those songs that grow on you, you start off determined to hate it but before long you'll find yourself not reaching for the skip-track button on your CD remote, and slowly sitting back to enjoy what is if taken for what it is - a quality track.

9. Punk A** B**** - Oh fill the asterisks in yourself, I'm sure you know what they mean, its a song bad-mouthing an ex, apparently shes one of those Asterikk-y words up there and to listen to it you know what the first thought that came in my mind was? 'sheesh how much like blink 182 did they want this song to sound?' - its got the semi-offensive/comedy lines in it, and they do seem to like their guitars and drums.

It isn't too great a track, but once again its not a terrible track, its the kind of thing that your average music listener could easily relax into, but to listen to it, you do really have to be in the mood for it all.

10. Wannabe Gangster - Eeeeek!!!, what have these imposters done with the Wheatus that we all know, its slow, theres no real heavy abuse of the guitar and you know what?, it sounds absolutely brilliant.

Its just such a shocker to hear such a mellow sound at the end of this album, but if I honestly had to pick out a favourite from the Album, well you're reading about it now, even Rich's drab attempts at rapping on the track fit in fine, its just all good foot-tapping, head-swaying fun and the perfect way to finish off a brilliant album like this.

So do I reccomend Wheatus' self-titled debut then?, of course I do!!!!, if I had but one gripe it'd be the order in which the tracks come in, they seem to open it on a downer of a track where-as I feel that it would have been near perfect if they started with 'Teenage Dirtbag' - saying that though, leaving 'Wannabe Gangster' to the end was a master-stroke, it leaves you sat begging for more, and right now I'm begging for another album having listened to it whilst typing this review, buy it people, then sit back and enjoy, whilst Respecting the Dirtbag!!