My review: The Hot Puppies - Under the Crooked Moon ►

◄ My review: The Hot Puppies - Green Eyeliner (2006)

Amazon.co.uk listings for CD1 / CD2 / Vinyl

CD1 track listing:

1. Baby Boom
2. Everywhere

CD2 track listing:

1. Baby Boom
2. Hospital
3. Stop Count To Ten
4. Baby Boom (video)

7" vinyl track listing:

1. Baby Boom
2. Sideways

Scroll down for lyrics!

Three for three. In 2003, The Crimea released Lottery Winners On Acid, White Russian Galaxy and Baby Boom in quick succession. In 2006, The Crimea released Lottery Winners On Acid, White Russian Galaxy and Baby Boom in quick succession. I dunno, I'd have picked Girl Just Died as a third single, but no-one can accuse the band of not being consistent... but review first, ranting later... and the ranting's not about the choice of single. Nice art on this set of releases, too.

First up is Baby Boom, showcasing one of the most haunting guitar notes I've heard. I'm still fond of the lo-fi demo from years back, but this studio album version is A Good Thing. (In contrast to the 2006 single of White Russian Galaxy, which was noticeably better than the album version.) From the double meaning of "getting slaughtered" to the remorseful storyline about the male of the species thinking with its collective penis, it's a really good song. Perhaps a little similiar in sound to WRG, but a solid favourite.

Everywhere is a Fleetwood Mac cover, light and breezy retro that emphasises just how different The Crimea are from The Crocketts. I like this habit of putting covers as the b-side on CD1 of singles... it joins You've Been A Long Time Coming and I Think We're Alone Now in being a worthy rendition, one that adds a lot to the original rather than just copy it. Two thumbs up.

New track Hospital holds the same position as Six Shoulders, Six Stone and Isobel in my affections... there are things I like about it; it also sets me a bit on edge in ways Sideways or The Great Beyond don't. To be fair, this is probably the intention. Grasping around for a way to describe that... it's akin to the difference between being a perkygoff and having a full-on Anne Rice fixation. I'd be of the first persuasion if I had any patience for dressing up.

Stop Count To Ten sees other band members get in on the words and singing, though I'm afraid I don't know them by voice... much different from its sister b-side, SCTT benefits from a volume boost to bring out the jauntiness and vocals.

Sideways is much more traditional Crimea fare, the instruments a little like early backing tracks such as La Sinoco and the first version of Girl Just Died — the lyrics are much like various other songs, and if you like them in those you'll like them in this. It's certainly wormed a way into my head.

If you've got the album, I'd suggest picking up CD1 or downloading Everywhere (if the latter, grab Sideways and the otherwise vinyl-only Ballad of Seichi Taniguchi from WRG while you're at it.) CD2 is a bit more of an equivocal recommendation.

Video of the title track is available for stream ripping (~12mb) from Contact Music and is a standard black-and-white, band-playing mood piece that gives people something to dial in and request on music television.

The rant? That goes to Warner Bros, who held Baby Boom back from being a download on iTunes and most other services until the 28th, scuppering any chance of chart success. 7digital, the place I settled on getting the tracks from in the end, did have CD2 (and CD2 only) up for grabs on the 23rd, two days after the discs came out, but it seems to have been the solitary place that did. Anyway, the 192kbps WMA files aren't bad quality, and can be burnt to CD for ripping back to versatile MP3.

---

BABY BOOM

We're just a bunch of buffalo, getting slaughtered
We're all red indians, we love fire water
We're just a bunch of buffalo, getting slaughtered
We're all red indians, we love fire water

CHORUS:
You can call me Fred Flintstone
Tarzan, king of the jungle
I guess I was a little prehistoric, pumpkin
At your place this afternoon
I guess you just weren't interested
In getting drunk and trying to start a baby boom

We're just a bunch of bad examples
Really twisted bad examples
We've all got problems
From every angle

CHORUS

I guess I was a little Captain Caveman
Woah, woah...
You can call me Fred Flintstone
Tarzan, king of the jungle
I guess I was a little prehistoric, pumpkin
At your place this afternoon
You can call me Fred Flintstone
Tarzan, king of the jungle
I don't need the Spanish Inquisition, darlin'
I don't do cryptic clues...
I guess you just weren't interested
In getting drunk and trying to start a baby boom

No-one said it's gonna be easy walking through confetti
No-one said it's gonna be fun...
It won't get better

---

EVERYWHERE

Can you hear me calling... out your name
You know that I'm falling and I dunno what to say
I'll speak a little louder, I'll even shout
You know that I'm proud and I can't get the words out

Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere
Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere

Something's happening, happening to me
My friends say I'm acting peculiarly
So come on baby, better make a start
Better make it soon before you break my heart

Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere
Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere

Can you hear me calling... out your name
You know that I'm falling and I dunno what to say
So come on baby, better make a start
Better make it soon before you break my heart

Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere
Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere
Aaaooo... I wanna be with you everywhere
Aaaooo... girl... girl... girl...

---

HOSPITAL

Along comes trouble, tears fall in a puddle
Lacy eyes staring off god know where
Be scared... fight it
As the limbo bar gets lower and there's less limboists
As your life flashes before your eyes
Like a fucking slideshow
Be scared... fight it
Here comes the suffering, the day of reckoning
We're never coming back, the ghost of Christmas past
Is rising up ???

Dreams intangible, dreams that you can't fulfil
Words unspeakable, when does the sad end — after the final bell
Words cannot describe

Along comes trouble, stands before me, says
This is a free world, and I'll fuck with you if I wanna
Be scared... fight it
Til requiem eternum from birth to disintegration
I'll always be your evil dictator
Be scared... fight it

The walls are closing in, the grip is tightening
The grip of total fear, you'll never kill us all
Never in a million years...

CHORUS

Got to the hospital... too late to save your life
As they gently shut your eyes
Got to the hospital... after the final bell
As they gently shut your eyes
Words cannot describe
As they gently shut your eyes

---

STOP COUNT TO TEN

I'm fallin' down all over or am I just plain mad
Keep fallin' over my feet just to reach the end
I'm blowin' every chance that I ever had
I just needa close my eyes and count to ten

CHORUS
One two three four five six seven eight nine ten
Dreamin' of days when I can go home
An' these butterflies in my stomach
Won't go as I grow old

You're lookin' over my shoulder but no-one knows
Been running away from home since sixteen years old
You're telling me I'ma bore when I'm just a lil' mad
Let's play hide-and-seek, I'm countin' to ten

CHORUS

(With you)
Won't go as I grow old...

---

SIDEWAYS

Finders, keepers, losers, weepers
Slaves, leaders, followers
Ladies and persecutors
Only the lonely believe in their horoscope
Only the stupid have hope

CHORUS:
Don't look sideways until you've reached the end
Trust no-one, least of all your friends
You've gotta go, figure it out for yourself
(But) let me tell you something, Jesus, you need help

History has spoken, and it wasn't jokin'
Don't give up smokin', the end is approaching
Nothing is certain but sheer devastation
A three minute warning... then bang

CHORUS

Patience, fill me up with patience
Patience, give me always patience
Patience, fill me up with patience
Patience, give me always

CHORUS

---

All lyrics are, naturally, copyright the band.

BLOG  MORE  ABOUT  MAIL