Oingo Boingo

Boi-ngo

Start Here, 'Cause it Only Gets Better

Review Score:

(8/10)
While I agree that this collection might not best represent Maestro Elfman's previous incarnation, there is still some good strong fun to be had here. The opener "Home Again" is a punchy, well known gem of O.B.'s output, and the acapella-introduced "Where Do All My Friends Go" follows strongly on its heels. Other highlights include "Elevator Man" (who's goin' down, who's goin down, typically fun, dark Elfman lyric), "We Close Our Eyes" (representative of a warmer direction the band started to take, nicely performed on the "Farewell" video), "Not My Slave" (a nice lesson in equitable reationships), "Outrageous" and "Pain".

A bit repetetive at times, not as arrangementally developed as earlier work overall .... on the other hand, a very clean recording, and less compressed and mechanical-sounding than they were at the outset. It needs to be stressed, that even at their less distinctive, Oingo Boingo ran circles around their musical contemporaries, distiguished by an unmistakable sound that was part tribal, part big band, part new wave quirk, spiced up with a twisted dark irony that was lead singer/songwriter Danny Elfman's trademark. This would not be at all a bad album for the novice or curious first-time listener, since there would be much dispute over which of all the other recordings were the best.

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