Friday Night Record Party : The Dickies: Second Coming/Idjit Savant

I feel like I should probably proof-read this or something, but I like to live dangerously...Sticking my schlong in the edge of disaster...Danger is my middle name...Well, it was until I had it legally changed to Edward...Anyway, Gosh Darn the torpedoes, today we're finishing up the Dickies section...Yee-hawwww!!!

The Dickies: Second Coming

1989

Enigma Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Hair 2. Monster Island 3. Town Without Pity 4. Cross Eyed Tammy 5. Going Homo 6. Dummy Up 7. Booby Trap 8. Magoomba II 9. Caligula 10. I'm Stan 11. Monkey See, Monkey Do

One hundred years after "Stukas Over Disneyland," the band released "Second Coming"...There was an EP in between that long stretch that featured their theme song from the "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" film , which I think snagged a couple Oscar Nominations for Glenn Close's breakthrough role as "Clownzilla"...

...but I don't have that EP, so we're skipping it...

Anyway, the band moved over to Enigma Records, and I think I've mentioned before that Enigma Records always seemed to have great bands at the wrong time...They had TSOL during the hair metal days...They signed Wire just in time for the band to release dollar-bin disco albums...They signed Montrose in 1987!!! And "Second Coming" falls into that same pattern...

I just can't fully get into this album...It's incredibly hit or miss...I think it's the only Dickies album that's probably ruined by the cover songs...Instead of using their earlier formula of taking a WTF song and turning it into Eureka! pop-punk, this time the band takes the WTF songs and play them WTF...So their cover of "Hair" sounds like a slightly sped-up Broadway musical and "Town Without Pity" is doomy, big-band schmaltz..And these both turn up within the first three tracks making the album a real head-scratcher at first...Sandwiched in between the covers is "Monster Island" which is straight Beach Boys surf pop that's really only punk if you consider the Beach Boys a punk rock band (which there might be a valid argument for)...The end result being that it takes 4 tracks to run into anything that resembles the Dickies trademark power-pop-punk style...But when it does finally happen on "Cross Eyed Tammy," it's a wonder to behold...The chorus is a knockout...

The remainder of Side One is similarly strong..."Going Homo" would probably be a no-no in today's PC market, but it's actually pretty funny...Leonard can't find a girl so he decides to switch teams as if it were as easy as changing socks:

"I can't find a dame
they're always the same
I'm going to shame my family name
'cause I'm going homo

I always used to flirt
my feelings got hurt
now I'm going out with Kurt
'cause I'm going homo..."

Side One ends with one of my favorite tracks, "Dummy Up" that finds the band stretching out but hitting it out of the park for a change...It's blue-eyed soul pop that reminds me of Wham! or something until it hits that dreamy Brian Wilson-esque break...Suddenly, I find myself 100% warmed up to the record...It was a rough start, but they've straightened it out...Alright, let's check out Side Two...

Aaaad Side Two is just alright-ish...Fine pop songs like "Booby Trap" clash with icky Power-Metal tracks like "Caligula," and they chose the yuckiest keyboard tones possible...I love keyboards, but you know those settings on a cheap Casio that are so tacky sounding that nobody with even a shred of musical taste would ever use them? Well guess what? The Dickiest manage to utilize every last one of those...I would almost admire it if the cheesy sounds didn't succeed in destroying otherwise enjoyable tracks like "Magoomba II" (which I still recommend for the spoken word section where Leonard sentences his mother for her myriad crimes against Magoomba)...And Leonard's keening counter-melody in the "Hail Claudius, Hail Flavius..."section of "Caligula" is pretty awesome...

Yea, that's the problem...It alternates between awful and amazing so fluidly that I ultimately have a hard time determining how I feel about the record...I think it's definitely the band's weakest album, but if you're a hardcore Dickies fan you can't miss "Cross Eyed Mary" and "Dummy Up" so all I can recommend is locating a cheap copy, if possible...My used vinyl copy was pretty pricy and I'm not so sure if I would pay that much for it again if I ever lost it...

Here's "Cross Eyed Mary" by the Dickies...Enjoy...

The Dickies:Idjit Savant

1995

Triple X Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Welcome to the Diamond Mine 2. Golden Boys 3. Toxic Avenger 4. Zeppelina 5. I'm Stuck in a Condo (with Marlon Brando) 6. Just Say Yes 7. Elevator (In the Brain Hotel) 8. Pretty Ballerina 9. Make it So 10. I'm on Crack 11. Oh Boy! 12. Roadkill 13. House of Raoul 14. Song of the Dawn

I think the mid 90's pop-punk explosion really lit a fire under the Dickies' collective ass because I see this is a total rebound from the iffy "Second Coming"... It's the one album where the band's many styles and diversions all come together for one harmonious moment...

You want early 1979 style pop-punk? Try out the opener "Welcome to the Diamond Mine," which bounces all over the walls with its hyperactive hooks...

Also be sure to check out the Star Trek: TNG tribute "Make It So" (Best Line: "Kunta Kinte's blind and he's at the controls, oh no!"), "I'm on Crack" and "Just Say Yes." The latter two songs are particularly hilarious considering how often the band's career has been derailed by drugs...Anyway, these are all fine pop-punkers that stand up to anything from the band's first three albums...

Then there's "Zeppelina" which is a "Second Coming"-style WTF-er that somewhat reminds me of a loopy, distant relative of Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain" with its bongos and whistles...Maybe the similarities are intentional, considering the song's title...I don't know, but the line, "I can't wait 'til Halloween, so that way I can see you in disguise," seems particularly sweet and moving for some reason despite its inherent creepiness...This song must have been around for awhile since the songwriting credit bears Chuck Wagon's name (who had been deceased about 14 years at this point)...I also think that "Toxic Avenger" succeeds where "Caligula" failed...It's still bombastic metal but pared down enough where the Dickies can effectively handle it...They even get in a "Killer Klowns" style circus romp with "House of Raoul."

Where the album really shines though is the cover songs, which I believe are the best batch the band ever put out...Whereas "Hair" and "Town Without Pity" were ill-fitting and incompatible with the band's sound, the selections on here are so perfect that they almost bring tears to my eyes sometimes...First we get "Golden Boys" which I knew from the old Ruthensmear album...

Punk legend has it that this track was the last song written by Darby Crash before his overdose/suicide, but to be honest it sounds waaayyyy beyond his skill level...If this song was any indication of what lied ahead had Darby Crash lived then it's a bigger loss than anyone ever suspected...I can't help but shake the feeling Pat Smear did most of the heavy lifting on this song...And the Dickies version is the best version of I've ever heard...It finds the song's sweet spot and the whole thing is truly transcendent and beautiful while managing to rock like a motherfucker...Their covers of Grapfruit's "Elevator (in the Brain Hotel)" and the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina" are the most inspired Psychedelic AM choices possible...Those delicate, intricate melodies set against the jackhammer riffs are pure pop heaven...The best shit out there...

Man, I love this record so much...This album seems to have been somewhat overlooked in the tsunami of glossy pop-punk albums released in 1995, but don't miss out on this if you're a fan of the genre...The AM radio touches might overwhelm some of the more stone-headed punks but anyone who can appreciate a fun pop hook should appreciate this...

Since "Idjit Savant," the band has only released one other full-length album to date...I don't own it but 2001's "All this and Puppet Stew" was another good record that found the band getting back in touch with their inner Ramone...I don't currently have a copy but as soon as I find it I'll cover that one too...But until then, the Dickies section stops here...I feel like I should have more to say...Maybe I'll say "peanut." Yes, I believe that sums things up quite nicely...