Songs about girls (And The Women Who Love Them - Mr. T Experience)

Member Name: kylecoare

Product:	And The Women Who Love Them - Mr. T Experience
Date:	12/03/04 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some fine pop moments, some rocking tunes, Dr Franks great lyrics and vocals.

Disadvantages: A couple of fillers, unknown to too many people

MR T EXPERIENCE - ...AND THE WOMEN WHO LOVE THEM (Special addition)
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So you though it was safe to read another of my ops, without having an almost unknown pop punk band rammed down your throat?
Sorry but has i have stated on many of my previous ops, I love this music and mainly I love this band.

The Mr T Experience are a poppy punk band from Berkeley, California.
They formed in the early 80's, and their sound was an inspiration on a lot of todays chart topping punk bands.
The band have released many great albums, some that i have reviewed on this site.

The bands style of music was very rare when they first formed, most punk bands didn't want anything to do with pop, but MTX on the other hand decided the mix would be great, thus creating much of the modern day punk music as we know it.

The band are led by lead singer Dr Frank, one of the best lyricists and vocalists that i have heard in many years, with an ability to pen a great song with nice catchy lyrics and interesting wordplays.

Frank is the only member still around from the early days, most went off to form other bands.
The best line up in my opinion was responsible for three albums, Love is dead, Revenge is sweet, and Alcatraz.
That line up was also involved in this album.

THE BAND
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The members on this album are:-

DR FRANK - VOCALS GUITAR SONGWRITER
AARON - BASS VOCALS (first 8 songs)
JOEL - BASS VOCALS (all other songs)
JYM - DRUMS PERCUSSION

The album was produced and mixed by KEVIN ARMY.


THE ALBUM
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This album was released in 2002, on Lookout Records.
It is a 25 song collection of unreleased songs and eps, from between 1993 and 1997.

Why some of these songs never made any of the other albums I will never understand, some of these are more than worthy of the past albums.
The fir
st 8 songs were originally released as an Ep with the same title as this album, they have been remastered for this album, hence the Special addition in the title.

The album comes with a nice inlay sheet, with all of the lyrics and a little written piece about the collection, written by Dr Frank.

As this album is 25 songs long i wont do a track by track as i would probably bore you all to tears and loose my CoT, so ill just pick some of the best and worse on offer.

---TAPIN UP MY HEART---

This track opens the album, with a much louder sounding guitar track than on other albums.
The riff is quite simple with some stop and start sections, very rock and roll sounding.
The vocals are good, not Dr Franks best but still good quality, with some spoken word sections then some great rocking bits.
The backing vocals are not as good, Aaron provides these, and is not as good a singer as Joel.

---I BELIEVE IN YOU---

This is a nice little song, with some fast played uptempo guitar, which although it doesn't offer a lot of chord changes or solos etc, still has a lot of melody.
Add to this the almost perfect vocals, and you have the beginnings of a great song.
There isn't really a chorus, which lets the song down a little, but with the nice tune and vocals it more than makes up for this.

The song is about Frank believing in a girl, but not knowing how to show her.

"It sounds odd to come from me, and i can fake sincerity, as well as anybody can, but that's not what im doing this time, i don't know how best to convey it, ill just say it, i believe in you"

---WE HATE ALL THE SAME THINGS---

This opens with a very rocking little riff, which stops and starts in all the right places.
The Drums are really well played, with a beat that really brings the song together.

Frank's vocals are about as good as they get on this song, with lots of cl
ever witty verses, and a nice catchy chorus.

The song slows down a little halfway through, which gives a good break from the fast pace of the tune up to this point.

---HOWD THE DATE END?---

This is an acoustic solo track done by Frank, it is basically a joke track about the worst date in history.
Its quite funny the first few times, but it isn't one you would play too often.
The music is quite catchy, with just Frank and his Acoustic guitar.
A great track although it will probably get on your nerves after a while.

---ALTERNATIVE IS HERE TO STAY---

This song is about the state of rock music, and how back in the 90's everything seemed to be classed as Alternative.
A very rocking track, this one really cant fail to get you off your bottom and dancing, with a driving guitar riff, with some crashing drums.

This has some great vocals, with Frank singing a bit quicker than usual.
The chorus is about as catchy as a cold, and will stick in your brain for quite some time.
This really should have been on one of the albums, but at least it is now.

"Some people like to rock, some people like to roll, and that was cool in days of old, but all the kids where the action is, gotta have alternative"

---NEW GIRLFRIEND---

This is one of those songs to get back at your Ex girlfriend, with lyrics about his new girlfriend being better than the old one.
A catchy number which doesn't offer anything new, but has a nice tune.
The vocals are not quite up to Franks usual high standard, but are still good.

"My new girlfriend is better than you, she's got higher breasts and a bigger IQ, she always knows which fork to use and doesn't always have a lame excuse"

---SACKCLOTH AND ASHES(demo)---

This is a stripped down version of a song that appeared on the Love is dead album, This version is much slower and almost acoustic
, whereas the album version was a rocking fast paced tune.
This shows more about how the songs were originally done, and shows a more reflective side to the band.

The song is still good, even though it doesn't have the same feel as the album version.

---WE ARE THE FUTURE PEOPLE OF TOMORROW---

Opening with a very jumpy riff, this is another stand out song. With some well timed drumming being the main focus of the music.
The vocals are a bit more pushed into the mix, which doesn't really suit this band that well, but works okay on this song.
Another top song, even better live.

---CRASH---

This is a cover of an old song by 80's band The Primitives.
The original is quite well known, with its "NA NA NA NA" chorus bit, this version is a bit faster with stronger guitars.
It is just as good if not just a bit better than the original, with Frank making the song his own.

A great cover, how good covers should be, not just a straight copy of a song, but a different interpretation of the original.

---Don't GO BREAKING MY HEART---

Another great cover version, I remember hearing this live, then it never being released until this album.
So as soon as i bought this it was the first song i played, and it still holds some of the greatness of the live version.

Originally a hit for Elton John and Kiki dee, which is the sort of song that a punk band normally wouldn't touch with a barge pole, but here MTX do it complete justice.

With Kim, from the muffs, playing the female vocal, this version shows how good a song this actually is, with a very catchy chorus and some nice music.
Quite close to the original in terms of tune, although it is all played on electric guitar on this version, it is a faithful cover, but still enough of Mr T Experience to make it their own song.

---I WAS LOSING YOU ALL ALONG---

The final track on the a
lbum, is a great little closing number, which isn't as fast paced as some of the other songs.
This has an almost 60's style to its sound, and shows Frank with some very sentimental sounding vocals.


OVERALL
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As I said at the start i haven't talked about all of the songs, and the ones that i have left off are just as good as the ones listed here, but you will have to buy the album for these!

At 64 minutes and 25 tracks, this is great value for money, it is available online for 9.99 dollars, or can be bought from most decent record stores for about 11 pounds.

There are very few fillers, which is quite strange for this style of album, but that just goes to show Dr Franks ability as a writer and musician.

This would make a great buy for anyone that is new to the band, as it gives a good broad view of their style.
Fans of the band will like the rarer tracks that are on offer here.

Thanks for reading, hope you are not too bored by now, please leave any comments you may have.

KYLE
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