Search - Ray Stevens :: Hurricane

Hurricane Ray...

Jerry McDaniel | 02/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This latest offering from Ray Stevens stays mostly in a rural/redneck theme. There are a few departures, though, but for the most part, the bulk of the material is tried and true redneck humor that has become the preferred choice of a lot of humorists hailing from Nashville in recent years. In this collection, which is available as an MP3 first and as a physical CD later, we hear Ray perform 12 comedy songs that will indeed blow a person away. There a lot of sound-effects on several of the recordings. For the latter-day fans or those who only know of Ray because of his music video's, he gives up-dated treatment on several songs he recorded in the mid 1980's. Among the newer material is "Sucking Sound" which is a political song about Ross Perot of all people but it's more about politics and economics in general and compares the words of Perot in the mid '90s to how things are now in the work force. In "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur" we hear about a couple who move up in life as Bubba becomes a wine taster. Ray does a french accent lovingly at the wine tasters room: "ahhh, Boo-Bah". Those who've heard the song by now what i mean. It's a satire, though...a talking piece, not a song. On "Hey Bubba Watch This" we hear a song start up like the song Three Blind Mice. It turns out to be a song of prevention...there's a tale about Junior who thinks he's Zorro and Captain Marvel rolled into one. The hook of the song is that "Hey Bubba Watch This" is the battle-cry of sorts for rednecks. Whenever one says "hey, Bubba, watch this!", it means there's disaster on it's way. "Rub It In" is a song from the 1970's from Billy Crash Craddock and what one may not know is Ray produced a version on an artist of that song in the 1970's but that version didn't become a hit because the label released it at the wrong time of the year according to Ray...so it's good to hear Ray perform the song that he had a connection to very early on. "Down Home Beach" combines vacations with rural America...it takes place in Down Home Beach, Alabama USA. In includes every stereotypically redneck joke you can think of in it's descriptions of the people at the beach where men wear Speed-o's two sizes too small, etc etc. The arrangement is typically Buffet-style. "The Cure" is a nutty song about, well, if i gave away what that song is about it would give away the catchy chorus. Well, anyway, if you've never heard a song about enema's then you're about to hear your first. That's all i'll say. The title song, "Hurricane", is a satire on cable news specifically CNN and Ray's spoof of Wolf Blitzer and Christiana Amanpour commenting and asking questions of those in a hurricane and it's that song where the catch-phrase "look out for flying pigs" comes from that races across the album cover. The remaining five songs all come from the mid '80s: "Smokey Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", "Camping Trip", and "Makin The Best of a Bad Situation" are from his 1986 MCA album, SURELY YOU JOUST. "Hugo the Human Cannonball" takes you back to his 1985 MCA album, I HAVE RETURNED. "Stuck on You" is originally from his 1989 MCA album, BESIDE MYSELF. Again, those songs are a welcome addition for those who do not have the original versions from the 1980's. The re-recordings are all great, though...but they're not the original versions that i grew up listening to. "Camping Trip" is about a family who go camping out in the woods. The father has the idea because he thinks his children are spoiled. "Stuck on You" tells about a man who buys instant wonder-glue after watching a TV promo for it and the disasters he encounters once he opens the glue cap. "Hugo the Human Cannonball" is a song about, well, a human cannonball named Hugo who wears a chromium football helmet with a cape that flaps in the breeze. All in all, the songs on HURRICANE will blow you away as they are all funny in their own kind of way. As said earlier, there's a redneck theme that runs through the collection and if you like redneck comedy or you're a fan of Ray's you'll definitely like the collection of material."

Great Album! Classic Ray Stevens

John E. Long | Camp Atterbury, Indiana | 08/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's nice in this day to pick up a comedy album that I have no qualms about letting my 5 year-old daughter listen to. The only sticky area I had to explain to her was what an enema was in "The Cure." Other than that I would have to say that, like myself, she is one of Ray Stevens' biggest fans. Wholesome fun that I guarantee will leave you smiling if not laughing out loud. Thank you Ray Stevens for delivering another solid funny album!"