NOTES:
Rodney Anonymous: Vocals.
Joe Jack Talcum: Guitars, Vocals.
Dave Blood: Bass.
Dean Clean: Drums.

Produced by John Wicks, The Dead Milkmen and David Reckner.
p. 1986 Fever Records.

The late, great Milkmen first gained notoriety with "Bitchin Camaro" in 1985, but Eat Your Paisley, their second album, brought better production values and a musical maturity.  The songs on this album aren't quite as idiotic as those on the first, and it proves that the Milkmen were much more than a one-note novelty act.

First of all, it must be said that musically speaking, The Dead Milkmen aren't in the same ballpark as Rush, Tool, or any other technically astounding bands (those were the first two that popped in my head, by the way), but to look at the band in that sense would be completely missing the point.  The Milkmen might not have displayed such apathy-ridden qualities which many of today's artists posses, but their snotty attitude was genuine, regardless of how many (admittedly) bad guitar solos Joe Jack Talcum performed.

Eat Your Paisley first and foremost shows the Milkmen growing into a tighter musical unit.  Songs like "The Thing That Only Eats Hippies," and "Two Feet Off the Ground" are performed with such vigor and intensity that it's hard to believe it's the same band that slopped all over the previous year's "Takin' Retards to the Zoo."

The songwriting improved, too.  Take the jangly, lite-rock approach to songs like"Happy Is," and "Take Me Apart," both of which are a welcome departure from the let's-see-how-fast-we- can-play-this approach to the songs on the first album. Also, the lyrics, though still amusing, convey a little more than humor.  For example, in "50 Things" Rodney Anonymous suddenly spits out "Barbara I'm sorry that you were unhappy/But you can't say that I didn't try/So many things I wanted to to/So many things and such little time."  And during the anti-trend "Moron", Talcum sings with some rather surprising conviction: "I'm following the trends/'Cause I want to have some friends/I wanna be somebody/I want to be with someone tonight".

Don't lose hope, though.  The Milkmen didn't turn into Soul Asylum at that point (though they unfortunately came close with 1992's Soul Rotation). Paisley is full of insults and pokes fun at people like The Grateful Dead, Ricky Nelson, Depeche Mode (a typical Milkmen target), Jerry Falwell, and even Samantha Fox.  Plus, I'm sure they pissed off quite a few with "Beach Party Vietnam."  If you've got the means, order a platter of this.

I'll get back to you.