Search - Oingo Boingo :: Best O'Boingo

Memento mori, polished and spinning!

Bat-Radish | 11/14/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There are re-recordings of some of the more popular songs on this album, most notably the one that starts the whole thing off: "Dead Man's Party".This isn't a bad thing. In the case of "Dead Man's Party", the oddly sluggish feel of the original is gone entirely. Most of the songs, in fact, sound tighter, brighter, and the whole thing just *bounces* along with the cheerily macabre sensibility that an Oingo fan dotes on. I listen to it and find I get the keenest enjoyment from it in the car, despite my rotten speakers. There you are, zooming through space in your little tin-can with internal combustion. Death is not far from your mind, more often than not, and it's invigorating to hear it discussed with such happy relish.The mood of this compilation is perhaps a bit lopsided: the friskier pieces such as DMP and "Not My Slave" tend to be near the beginning, while the album slides toward wistful sentiment and pretty minor-key warbling toward the end. In the car, the opening trumpets of DMP are a clarion call back to the lighter side of things. Without the "Repeat All" function, it kinda wiggles to a halt. Not bad at-awl."

This "Best Of" is incomplete

Bat-Radish | 07/13/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great CD. It's very fun and danceable with a dark sense of humor running throughout. It is, however, incomplete for anyone wanting an overall look at Oingo Boingo. The band was together for seventeen years and collects only about five years worth of their hits on MCA Records. There is another collection called "Skeletons in the Closet" that covers the earlier part of their career. But if you want a collection Oingo Boingo at its best doing their greatest songs, spring for the 2 disc "Farewell." It's an album recorded from their final concert."