The Simpsons – The Simpsons Sing The Blues

Released: December, 1990
Geffen Records

editors note: Sorry we've been absent this week... but I think this makes up for it, a classic album review from the one and only Nummer. BUZZZ!

As we prepare to join The Simpsons on their first big screen adventure today (gotta love that Spider-Pig), now’s a great time to look back at another Simpsons monument – their first album.

Released just in time for Christmas 1990, The Simpsons Sing the Blues was designed to cash in on an America already knee deep in Bart mania. The show’s second season was eight episodes in, Burger King was selling plush dolls, Acclaim and Nintendo were prepping video games, and t-shirts (both licensed and unlicensed) were selling by the score. In fact, it has been reported that during the first full season, Fox signed more than 100 licensing agreements for the show resulting in $750 million in domestic sales by the end of 1990. Logically, an album was next in the chain of merchandising. Right?

All they needed was a gimmick. I’m sure all musical genres were debated, but how they arrived at blues I’ll never know. I like to think the marketing meeting that spawned the album played a lot like the brainstorming session we saw in the eighth season classic “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show”. Remember that one? It had that great scene with producers and writers sitting around figuring out how to make the new character Poochie more appealing to kids (the result was a Kung Fu hippy dog from Gangster City who recycles). Brilliant.

Looking back at the music of November and December 1990, the US was doing anything but raiding the blues sections. Both “Love Takes Time” from Mariah Carey and “I’m Your Baby Tonight” from Whitney Houston were crowd favorites and believe it or not, Stevie B’s “Because I Love You (The Postman Song)” was getting ready for a four week run as Billboard’s #1. In short, Geffen was setting themselves up for a tough sell by releasing 10 tracks of cartoon characters singing the blues. Looking back, they didn’t need to worry too much though. 1990 also marked Geffen’s formation of DGC – a label that in the next few years would feature Nirvana, Weezer, Sonic Youth, Beck, etc.

Still, they pushed on. For Sing the Blues, 20th Century Fox got the primary voice actors (Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardly Smith) to reprise the core Simpson family, as well as some additional help from Harry Shearer and Ron Taylor so a few secondary characters could also be included. Amazingly, Geffen also lined up an impressive number of guest musicians and writers. Michael Jackson (who had just been named Artist Of The Decade by President George H.W. Bush) helped pen the first single “Do the Bartman”, Buster Poindexter (aka David Johansen from The New York Dolls) did some vocal work, B.B. King showed up on guitar, Dr. John tickled the ivories, DJ Jazzy Jeff lent a bit of turntable skill and Detroit’s own Marcy Levy provided harmony vocals on a few tracks. Not stopping there, the Tower of Power horns and Joe Walsh (Mr. "Rocky Mountain Way" himself) also surfaced for a few minutes.

When the dust cleared, Sing the Blues was made up of 10 songs – 5 originals and 5 straight/ slightly re-worked covers ranging from Chuck Berry to Billie Holiday. Nearly each family member got their own song, but Bart and Lisa made up the majority. First out of the gate was “Do the Bartman” which for a time became just as popular as the series – I distinctly remember wearing a Bartman pin on my jacket during the 1990-1991 school year. While Bartman wouldn’t appear on the show until May of 1991, a music video was produced in advance of the album’s release that did gang busters on MTV. Shonen Knife even released a Japanese cover version as the b-side to their 1992 single, "Do the Knife".

So was the album any good? Being that we’re in 2007, I think the answer to that depends on when you listened to it. As a 12 year old, I begged my parents for it simply so I could hold the cassette case in my hand and be seen listening to “Do the Bartman” at the bus stop. Sadly, once the novelty of that song wore off, my friends and I never really warmed to the blues concept and moved on to Vanilla Ice’s just released To The Extreme. Guess Geffen’s gimmick didn’t work on my neighborhood’s kids after all. However, listening to it again now, Sing the Blues plays like a warm reminder of what the Simpsons used to be. Bart’s mischief was the centerpiece, Homer’s voice was still in its early oaf-ish stage, Lisa’s jazz roots were established, but her political stances had yet to be defined and Marge was pretty much filler. One song, “Look at all Those Idiots”, has aged particularly well. This is a track that takes us through a day in the life of C. Montgomery Burns. Of everyone on the album, Mr. Burns’ personality is still the same today as it was seventeen years ago. The song features his ever constant threat “release the hounds”, his inability to remember Homer’s name as well as the ambiguously gay Waylon Smithers. Senior Burns. So best.

The album peaked at #3 on the US charts, and spawned two additional singles over the next year – the sample heavy “Deep, Deep, Trouble” and “God Bless the Child”. To the delight of hardcore fans, 20th Century Fox would dust off the music videos for “Do the Bartman” and “Deep, Deep, Trouble” twelve years later to be included as bonus features on The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season DVD. For a real trip down memory lane, check out the Butterfinger commercials that show up on some of the season sets as well.

Original pressings of Sing the Blues are long out of print, but its re-release in 1996 can be found on Amazon for under $10. Eagle eye shoppers can also find copies lurking in bargain/used bins of record stores all over the country.

Four other Simpsons CDs would follow over the years: 1997 saw Songs in the Key of Springfield, 1998 gave us The Yellow Album and 1999 brought Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons. Of these albums, only The Yellow Album made an attempt at original music specifically produced for the album. The other two were collections of music heard on the TV show throughout the first nine seasons. To coincide with the movie, two more discs will be added to the Simpsons discography in 2007. The first is this week’s The Simpsons Movie: The Music, which I believe is mainly Hans Zimmer’s score, and the second is The Simpsons: Testify due out in September. Of these two, only Testify is a must own as it collects music from the 10th – 18th seasons of the series – a project some say was long overdue.

Rating: 3/5

-Nummer

Question Number 1, Will They Still Serve Beer?

That was the first imaginary question I asked the imaginary manager of the new Fillmore Theater here in Detroit... in my imagination!

I imagine the answer is yes, so basically I'm really not concerned that the State Theater is being renamed as part of a Clear Channel/Live Nation plan to build a national concert venue brand on the equity of the classic Bill Graham venues. Imagine that!

While the State Theater has hosted it's share of great shows, it does bare noting that the venue has only been called the State Theater since sometime in 1991, prior to that it spent a short time as Clubland, primarily a large nightclub that began hosting shows during alternative rock's grunge filled MTV explosion years. Previously, it was vacant for many years before Little Cesar barron Mike Illitch began the slow resurgence of the neighborhood by restoring the Fox Theater complex next door. The venue, like the Fox, was originally a movie palace known as the Palms.

So, as much as I've enjoyed the State over the years, it's not as if the Clear Channel bozo's were renaming Carnegie Hall, I'll get over it.

But changes are a good time for reflection and based on the suggestion of one of our contributors, the legendary Nummer, I've asked a few people to share their memories of the venue formally known as State. It was such a good idea that one Detroit News Pop Music writer that I'll refer to only as A. Graham to protect his identity, blogged about it today over at the detnews.com -- I've decided to republish his response in it's entirety because I want to work on my cut and paste skills.

Gorilla
The first show I ever saw at the State Theater was in November of 1992, about a year after it took that name full time. My Dad took myself and three friends to see Jethro Tull. The funny thing was, while my Dad is a big classic rock fan, he really was never into the flute fueled blues-prog rock of Ian Anderson and company. Nor has he ever to my knowledge, owned, worn or much less befriended an Aqualung.

Dad was simply doing his fatherly duty, showing his kid and some friends a good time involving live rock n' roll (and probably looking over our shoulders to make sure we didn't "accidentally" get some beer or weed from old stoners who had basically been high since the real Jethro Tull was drilling seeds.) In the event I ever have children, would I, could I endulge said children's burgeoning interest in vintage rock by accompanying them to a Collective Soul or god forbid, Bush reunion tour?

I think I may have to buy him TWO ties this father's day.

I've since seen many shows at the State (but not nearly as many as other contributors), Beck, The Strokes, Tenacious D (a couple weeks after 9-11 when everyone was still coming out of their cable news hibernation) and recently a fantastic and horribly attended set by Mastodon that I mentioned on this blog previously. But honestly, none of those shows had as many memorable flute solos.

T. Wicks
My 5 most memorable State Theater experiences (thank you for asking):

1. An on-their-last-legs Replacements. Bob and Chris were both MIA by this point, but I still wish I could go back in time and re-live this one.

2. Urge Overkill, riding high on “Saturation,” wearing gold medallions and shirts that spelled out U-R-G-E, left to right across the stage.

3. Sneaking onto the main floor for the Beastie Boys after the just-released Check Your Head. They opened with “Slow and Low,” and a guy promptly jumped off a railing and flattened me.

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers/Smashing Pumpkins/Pearl Jam. Ned Coho bought a Chili Peppers T-shirt and lost it minutes later in the main floor melee’.

5. Chris Isaak goofing on the names of Detroit automobiles, particularly the Ford “Probe.” Late in the show, he exited the stage and reappeared in the upper balcony with a spotlight hitting his disco-ball suit.

Nummer's Top Two State Theater Memories

10/12/94 - Live/Weezer/Fatima Mansions: I was 16 and this was my first show without parents. Went with my junior year high school girlfriend Heather and our mutual friend Kristin. We took Kristin's car (which featured a NIN bandana safety pinned to the ceiling) and listened to Greta's "No Biting" album on cassette during the drive down. Legendary.

That night also marked one of my first ever encounters with the homeless. As we approached the entrance (we parked in a vacant lot where Comerica Park now stands), a grizzled street person giving out plastic jewelry for money came up to us. He looked our group over, reached into his bag, and gave me a gold colored bead necklace explaining I deserved it at no cost because I was "a pimp with two ladies on my arm". Welcome to Detroit, and true or false: I wore that necklace under my shirt the next day in school?

7/11/00 & 7/12/00 - Limp Bizkit/Cypress Hill: I'm not a Limp Bizkit fan and I was only there because I worked for 89X's Promotions Department that Summer, but man o' man, talk about NUTS. The shows were free, people camped (some for 40+ hours) in lines wrapped through dozens of city blocks, MTV was out in full force and I got mobbed for running out of free 89X t-shirts that said "I Waited in Line for the Nookie".

The scene inside was even crazier: crowds in the balcony and mezzanine sections were jumping around so much you could literally see the upper level moving up and down out of its foundation. And downstairs? The main stage was surrounded by a 20-foot-tall chain link fence so nobody could mob Durst and Borland. Adding to the entertainment were morons attempting to scale said fence only to be shaken off by security guards forcing a free fall back to the floor. Thank God for the boosted up medical staff with all those stretchers.

The music may have sucked, and I definitely got sick of red baseball hats, but those shows will never be forgotten. I even still have my bottle of "hot dog flavored" water - unopened.

Top 5 Honorable Mentions:

3/30/96 - Foo Fighters/that dog.

8/15/97 - Radiohead

2/23/00 - Kids in the Hall

5/10/02 - Belle & Sebastian

6/3/05 - Kraftwerk

Adem "Shoosh, he's the Greatest Grizz in the World" Graham, as originally published on the Detroit News Music Blog.

With tomorrow's concert from the Fergalicious one herself, the State Theater officially becomes The Fillmore Detroit.

And What's in a name? Not much if the fact that everyone still calls DTE Energy Music Theatre "Pine Knob" is any indication, the State Theatre isn't really going anywhere.

Still, it is the end of an era of sorts for the 3,000 seat theatre that has consistently ranked as one of Detroit's best concert venues.

The State plays host to bands that are on their way up or huge bands looking for a retreat from the spotlight, craving a more intimate setting. I've seen dozens of shows there from bands who've gone on to great things and bands who've gone on to nothing.

And that will continue. Still, now is as good a time as any to look back at the good ol' State Theatre, a venue that's always been there for concert fans and will continue to be there even in its new, super-corporate incarnation.

With no further ado, here are my first-ever State Theatre Awards:

TOP THREE SHOWS I'VE SEEN AT THE STATE THEATRE

3. Hole, 2000. Remember when Hole went on tour with Marilyn Manson? Yeah, that didn't go so well, and Hole dropped off the bill a few weeks into the tour and came back on their own, which is when Courtney and the crew came through the State. She was a hot mess on this night, pulling kids out of the crowd and on to the stage and at one point climbing on to the knights that flank the stage and grinding on them as if she was giving them a lap dance. Crazy awesome.

2. Wu Tang Clan, July 30, 2000. Chaos, tons of dudes on stage, each with their own towels. I remember after this show I wanted to always carry a towel with me but never got around to it. I can't remember if ODB was there, but I know Method Man dove into the crowd. Probably the best rap show I've ever seen.

1. Smashing Pumpkins, June 30, 1996. At the time, the Pumpkins were the biggest band in the world -- but not big enough to sell out two nights at the Palace. The second show was moved to the State Theatre at the last minute, and the Pumpkins raged for what I swear was at least two and a half hours and no less than three encores. I may have embellished these facts in my head, but that's the way I remember it. Perfect, and to-date the best concert I've ever seen.

WORST SHOW I'VE SEEN AT THE STATE

Travis, Oct. 29, 2003. The normally lovable Brit-poppers were touring on their atrocious "12 Memories" album and put on a dead-boring set puncuated by a 4-years-past-cool cover of Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time." Awful.

BIGGEST REGRETS

Missing Bjork, 8/5/95 and missing Britney Spears, 8/24/99. Also, hanging out at the bar and talking through Sigur Ros on 11/9/02. I don't remember the conversations I had, but I remember missing one of the most majestic show's I'd ever been to. Rats. One last regret: Getting to the Green Day show on 11/20/97 almost halfway through the show. But even though I missed half of it -- my buddy and I got lost on the way down from MSU -- it was still killer. Solo electric "Good Riddance!"

BEST MEET AND GREET

When I met Fiona Apple in 1999 and asked her, "How's Paul?" (She was dating "Boogie Nights" director Paul Thomas Anderson at the time.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LATTER DAY SUPERGROUP

Velvet Revolver, 5/20/04. Before their first album came out -- which significantly lowered everyone's expectations of the band -- these refugee rockers put on a blistering show, which peaked with Slash rocking out a guitar solo from the top of a stack of speakers.

WORST PERFORMANCE BY A LATTER DAY SUPERGROUP

Audioslave, 2/28/03. As I recall, my wife (then girlfriend) and I got there at 8 p.m. and the band had already been on for 30 minutes, and they were done by 9 p.m. What, Chris Cornell's got an early bedtime now? What would Kim Thayil say?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A REUNITED ROCK BAND

Motley Crue, 10/23/98. Or maybe I was just overly excited because I slapped Tommy Lee's hand at the end of the show.

FIRST SHOW I EVER SAW AT THE STATE THEATRE

Toad the Wet Sprocket w/ Hootie and the Blowfish, 3/28/95. Dude, give me a break. I was in high school!

LAST SHOW I SAW AT THE STATE THEATRE

Mastodon w/ Against Me!, 5/13/07. Epic, even though everyone fled after the openers.

MOST ON STAGE ATTITUDE

Liam Gallagher of Oasis, who pretty much stared down audience members the entire concert both times I saw them, on 3/3/96 and 3/19/00.

MOST OVERRATED SHOW

Radiohead, 8/15/97. People talk about this show in legendary terms, but I was only so-so on it. They were much better at the Sanctum on 4/5/96.

MOST DANGEROUS SHOW(S)

Limp Bizkit, 7/11/00-7/12/00. The free, Napster-sponsored show unfolded behind a massive chain link fence that practically begged audience members to climb on to stage and to throw bottles at Fred Durst. And few would have blamed them.

BEST PERFORMANCE ON STILTS

Marilyn Manson, 9/14/98. The Antichrist Superstar prowled the stage on stilts for part of the show on this "Mechanical Animals" tour stop. I can't remember if he had the fake boobs or not, though.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A RED-HEAD

Garbage, 11/12/98. Shirley Manson still owns.

MOST INTRUSIVE PAT-DOWN

Shady Bowl Super Party, 2/4/06. Hey now! Yes, that's a pen in my pocket, I'm a reporter. Twice as intense as the pat-down at the actual Super Bowl.

WHERE'S THE MERCH?

Nas, 4/19/07. Only show I can remember being at, ever, that didn't have a merch table.

CAN'T FORGET ABOUT THE CLOWNS

I saw the Insane Clown Posse at the State Theatre twice, in 1997, at the height of the "Great Milenko" controversy and at their Hallowicked show in 2006. In between, little evolved except the flavors of Faygo being kicked around. Happily, some things never change.

A Brief History of Badly Drawn Boy in Detroit

As Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough) gears up for his 5th Detroit visit since 2000, let's take a piss in the wind and look back at his previous stops. Cheers.

Visit #1: 11/10/00 - Badly Drawn Boy @ Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI
Album Promoting: Hour of Bewilderbeast
Gough's age: 31

Gough's 1st ever U.S. tour and his 1st stop in Metro-Detroit. The show wasn't exactly sold out, but Gough nonetheless told us his next Detroit appearance would be in a much larger sports arena and that we'd be able to say "we saw him at the Magic Bag". The show was over 3 hours long and towards the end, Gough was standing on top of tables in the crowd either cussing out the Magic Bag's owner or reading a flyer of the venue's upcoming events. "Who the fuck are the Twistin' Tarantulas?" still sticks out in my mind.

That night at the Magic Bag also set the template of what to expect from future shows: ungodly amounts of cigarettes smoked (an ashtray was actually affixed to his mic stand), large chunks of time devoted to drunken-like rambling which at times causes the band to abandon him onstage and finally, set lengths to rival even the most seasoned jam band.

Related: Aaron Warshaw of Metro Times previews BDB's 1st U.S. Tour afew days prior to The Magic Bag stop.

Visit #2: 4/28/01 - Badly Drawn Boy @ St. Andrews - Detroit, MI
Album Promoting: Hour of Bewilderbeast
Gough's age: 31

Nearly 5 months after Gough said we'd next see him in a sports arena,he returned to Detroit via St. Andrews Hall (with a capacity of about 800 more than The Magic Bag).

Of my four BDB shows, this one is the favorite. The opening act was a short film of Gough playing a day in the life of Bon Jovi's pool boy. After the film, security guards parted the capacity crowd on the mainfloor down the middle so Gough could make his way to the stage. With small American flags on toothpicks sticking out of his trademark hat, he began what would be a another long night full of chatter (he compared himself to Bono at one point) and Bewilderbeast songs. All of this after the Rocky theme played of course.

It is also interesting to note that he spent much of the show's first half discussing his wife and newborn daughter between songs (he even passed around a baby picture while stressing it better make its way back to the stage). However, as the night went on, he began some heavy flirting with girls in the crowd and I'm pretty sure he invited one (or more) backstage. Always the family, er, ladies man.

Visit #3: 10/25/02 - Badly Drawn Boy/Adam Green @ St. Andrews -Detroit, MI
Album Promoting: Have you Fed the Fish?
Gough's age: 33

By 2002, live BDB shows had gained enough of a reputation for QMagazine to list him as one of the Top 50 Live Acts to See Before You Die. This claim even came after a few online BDB forums began comparing Gough's live antics from city to city only to determine the chaos may be much more "controlled" than previously thought. As early as 2001, fans were reporting seemingly identical rants and fits at each gig from city to city. However, with both the About A Boy soundtrack and Have you Fed the Fish released in 2002, BDB awareness in the U.S. was at a new high.

Despite all the hype, the 2002 St. Andrews show was pretty tame. Since it fell on a Friday night, the show had an early curfew (10:00 PM if I remember correctly) to make way for "Club Night". Not sure if Gough knew this ahead of time, but while still on stage he laced into both St.Andrews management and the club goers waiting outside for forcing him to cut his set short.

Visit #4: 11/27/04 - Badly Drawn Boy/Adem @ St. Andrews - Detroit, MI
Album Promoting: One Plus One is One
Gough's age: 35

The first order of business for Gough in 2004 as he took the St.Andrews stage for a third time was making sure we all knew he'd be playing two sets. He then made it clear the first set would consist entirely of the latest album, One Plus One is One, from start to finish. By the start of the second set, it felt like half the crowd had left. As that set drew to a close (somewhere between 1:00-2:00 AM), almost everyone was gone. Pity really, they missed long stories about where Gough shops for records in his native U.K.

The 2004 stop is easily the weakest of his four Detroit shows, but it did include one memorable moment: During Adem's opening set, Damore and I spotted Gough hanging out near the sound board. Damore mentioned the Bon Jovi pool boy film to which Gough replied, "Were you there? Were you there at the Magic Bag?" He then shooshed us by saying "Quiet. This is the greatest song ever written" as he turned his attention back to Adem's set. Despite Gough mixing up his Detroit show continuity, the whole encounter became legendary overnight.

Which brings us to...

Visit #5: 3/9/07 - Badly Drawn Boy/Adem @ Majestic - Detroit, MI
Album Promoting: Born in the U.K.
Age: 37

Two years and one album later, we have no reason to believe the new tour will be any different. A fan going by the name "Mamamoth" posted on the itcamefromtheunderground BDB forum in regards to last Fall's LA show that "Damon threw tantrums, insulted us, spat water, kept complaining about the sound, smoked cigarettes violently, threw empty matchbooks around, and acted like a primadonna bitch."

The Philadelphia Daily News has also reported that Gough, along with his four-piece band, will be covering Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road"at every show during the US Tour. All this AND, with Adem on the bill again, we'll all have a second chance to hear the greatest song ever written. Best.

Related: Live Daily's review of Badly Drawn Boy in Washington DC on3/6/07

--Nummer

Welcome Nummer to recordreviews.org

We're very excited to have the one and only Nummer writing for recordreviews.org. Most of you know him as whatevs.org resident SNL expert; but most of you have probably never had the pleasure of stepping into his more than impressive media room. Thousands of cds and dvds -- many rare or imported, line the shelves; vinyl, vhs and comics fill the closet -- it's bovs.

Nice hard wood floors too.

While Nummer will likely be writing new reviews as well, look for him to hit his vaults for classic albums reviews, concert reviews from the D and general awesomeness.