King Kong! (Monkey Kong - A)

Member Name: strange_child

Product:	Monkey Kong - A
Date:	22/05/02 (32 review reads)
Rating:

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Disadvantages: n/a

I recently got this album, being reminded of A from the amount of attention they have received lately. I used to have a little tape with a couple of songs on, which I absolutely loved, but then forgot about, now 3 years later I have the album, and it's really good. They cover the style between punk and pop, but seem less planned and polished than bands such as The Offspring (who are good in their own way!). Here's my song-by-song guide;

For Starters
And the albums starts with the sounds of grasshoppers, very pleasant you think. But no wait, then in comes a whining guitar, which within a few seconds has got heavier and is accompanied by a yell welcome to the album! This has quite a heavy riff, which dies down as the singing begins. The singer has got quite a whiny voice, and in this song it's basically rhythmic shouting through a Dictaphone, but still sounds great! This is a dynamic start, and from the title was probably always destined to be the start track!

A
Maybe they named themselves after the track. Maybe it was named after them. We'll never know. Anyway this has a melodic guitar opening that grows heavier, but no way as heavy as the first, until later on. I don't think this is a particularly inspirational song, because I don't really know what it's about, and even though it is quite strong and thick instrumentally, there is no definite tag-on tune.

Monkey Kong
This one is heavier, starting with the clash of guitars and dynamic, mental singing. There is a strange high-pitched guitar sound in the background, which adds interest. It's got a great chorus to sing along to in a mad voice. A good song, but does not necessarily stick with you.

Old Folks
This is the reason I have the album! I heard this brilliant song on the Steve Lamacq show years ago, and absolutely loved it. It's just both the combination of the catchy chorus and the witty grandparent unfriendly nature of the lyr
ics - 'The old folks are losers, they can't work computers, they die in December time, fall down for no reason, their church is our heathen!' This song is loud and heavily sing-a-long (but as I always say, not in a cheesy way!) Definatly one of the highlights!

Hoppa Jonnus Fang
A very strange title that gives nothing away of what it's about, and a slightly odd song. It seems to use strange sounds and instruments (whirring, what sounds like a cat singing!) It's quite mellow when the vocals start, but I know this sounds snobby, but it would be very well sung if the singer didn't speak with glottal stops! Yeah I know that's bad of me to say that, he may not be able to help that, but it just sounds pretentious! It's quite an nice song, vaguely experimental (would never have been released) and it's about what he wants (I wanna have a girlfriend, live in California, sounds like one of my friends he he).

Summer on the underground
Whenever I hear it I just get images of riding around London Underground on a hot summer day. The verse is slightly quiet, and the chorus is quite loud and shouty, so it's a typical A song. It's quite catchy, but not so much as I could imagine humming it on the bus! Just another good A song I suppose!

Warning
This has an unusual sounding introduction, and like you would imagine, it's intense and thrashy, very good! I don't think that the vocals quite suit the thrashier songs, but it's good listening for comedy value and also because it's good! It a very short song, and cuts out before it would just get annoying and boring!

If it ain't broke fix it anyway
This is another 'Dictaphone' sounding song, and it's really good! It's got a really heavy, catchy tune, and even harmonic vocals! Wow, impressive! I can't really hear the lyrics in these song of songs, especially because of the fuzzy nature of the recording, but p
robably one of the best, what can I say?

Don't be Punks
It's introduced by a fuzzing sounding voice, probably on a Dictaphone and then comes a scream! This is a mad song, I wouldn't really describe A's normal stuff as traditionally punky, but this is! It's a mickey take of punk songs, but it is let down by the singer's distinctly unpunky voice!

Jason's Addiction
This song starts with a quiet tapping sound and a quiet guitar, and takes a fairly long time to begin. The singing is computerized and quiet and slow, quite boring really!

Down on the floor
This has a bit of a tragic 80s opening, which conjures up images of keyboard geeks in their lycra with bouffant hair, but fear not! As it gets to the point that you think you might cringe, you are saved by simultaneous singing/shouting and thundering guitars. However, it's not one of the best, it has that average typical A tune, which could only be A but you couldn't distinguish which song! But it does include a pretty funny 'robot singing'! Scary.

Getting Around
Another cheesy 80s keyboard sound that introduces calmer guitar strumming and quieter vocals. But that doesn't last along, because then the chorus explodes into heavy guitars and repetitive shouting of 'getting around', and then back to the quiet verse again. It's not an amazing song, but passable!

Stand out tracks for me;
Old Folks
Summer on the Underground
If it ain't broke fix it anyway

This is a good album, I recently got the Hi-fi Serious album as well, and it's better than that! Some bits do get on my nerves though, like the poppy keyboard bits, because I had only heard the more punky songs before I got the album, and I was expecting more than that. Still, I would recommend it!

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