Album Reviews
After reuniting in 2008 and releasing “The King In Yellow” in 2011, Philly’s The Dead Milkmen finally have a chance to get out of Ween’s shadow, following that band’s dissolution in 2012. So will “Pretty Music For Pretty People” get this band the recognition they deserve after almost three decades?
If it doesn’t happen, it certainly won’t be due to a lack of material because this puppy clocks in at just under an hour with a whopping 18 eclectic tracks. Sure, not all of the songs on here are equally good… “The Sun Turns Our Patio Into A Lifeless Hell” for example could’ve just as well been left out.
But when these guys are on a roll, there’s no stopping their sneers. Whether it’s the noir-ish “Welcome To Undertown”, “Now I Wanna Hold Your Dog” or the witty “Big Words Make Baby Jesus Cry”, there’s plenty of goodness to go round. It’s not all social commentary here though, Rodney Anonymous will just as well get a narrative going about a flood that swept through Boston in 1919 (“The Great Boston Molasses Flood”).
Whichever road they choose to travel down, it’s more hit than miss, making “Pretty Music For Pretty People” a more than adequate 10th album that recalls the heydays of Dead Kennedys, Minutemen and of course their own classic material while dishing out sardonic sneers aimed at everyone who gets on their nerves.
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
