Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party - Red Color Vinyl Record *

Oingo Boingo, after a two-year recording hiatus during which bandleader Danny Elfman recorded a solo album, came back with a new sound. They abandoned the excesses of smart-aleck humor and quirky production that had led critics almost universally to dismiss the band's first four albums. Although the sound may still be just a bit too uptight and over-determined, the horn charts are more focused and sophisticated, and Elfman has matured considerably as a lyricist. The album includes such typically oddball fare as the title track and a surprise hit song called "Weird Science," as well as the faintly paranoid "Just Another Day" and the frankly romantic "Stay," and a glorious Motown tribute called "Help Me." However, "Weird Science" is what really brings things to a close with a bang. Although it reverts somewhat to the band's earlier indulgence in wacka-wacka sound effects and willfully crazy production technique, it's also one of Boingo's most satisfying pop songs ever. Overall, this is perhaps the first Oingo Boingo album to hang together really well as a whole.

Track List

1. Just Another Day
2. Dead Man's Party
3. Heard Somebody Cry
4. No One Lives Forever

1. Stay
2. Fool's Paradise
3. Help Me
4. Same Man I Was Before
5. Weird Science