Is that what you're into?

Hey reader-- you know what I just realized? I've never done any music reviews on this blog (and by extension, ever). Let's fix that.

OK, so you remember when I talked about the first episode of the second season of Flight of the Conchords, featuring the eponymous duo, everyone's favourite 2-man New Zealand acoustic parody/ novelty group? If you did, that means you understood that last sentence, and deserve a prize*! Anyway, it turns out said band produced an record album, and additionally that I got the album for Christmas. So guess what I'm reviewing?

On its own, there's absolutely nothing problem with the disc. It's shiny and has a picture on one side, and if you stick it in a comupter, it plays music. The music is pretty good, 15 hilarious and catchy songs that are good and tasty.

The problem is that most (14) of the (15) snongs (or as they're called in America, "songs") come from the show. And even then, you don't even need HBO or the DVD to see them. Every one of them is available, in multiple forms, on Youtube. To wit:

1. Foux Du Fafa:


Funny, but it loses something without the Super-8 type video.

2. Inner City Pressure:


The album version is about two lines longer, but the two are otherwise identical.

3. Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous




4. Think About It




Probably the only song that's better on the album then the show (though it lacks that spoken-word intro...). You can tell this was always supposed to sound like "What's Goin' On", and the album version comes the closest to that.

5. Ladies of the World




6. Mutha'uckas


See, it's musically interesting, but lyrically it's kind of a one-joke song. I'm not sure why they chose to include this one.

7. The Prince of Parties


Another song that doesn't work nearly as well without the video.

8. Leggy Blonde


This was another one where I'm not sure why they included it. For one thing, it's not technically an FotC song, an for andother, the office-supply percussion part only works if you can actually see it.

9. Robots




This is probably my favourite of the songs that made it onto the record, but my least favorite on the record. The version on the record is too overproduced-- part of the fun of "Robots" is that it's an acoustic song about, well, robots**. Also, all three have different lyrics, for whatever reason.

10. Boom




Also kind of one-jokey, but it's a better joke than "Mutha'uckas".

11. A Kiss Is Not A Contract


12. The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)




13. Business Time




14. Bowie




I couldn't find video of track 15, "Au Revoir", the only song on the CD to not feature on the show (at least, not yet). There's not much to it, anyway-- it's less than a minute long and song almost entirely in French.

But more depressing than nothing is what was left out (by the way, good job on scrolling this far. I bet your middle finger is tired. Mine is). Some were songs that only work in context, sure. A couple were probably left off because they weren't on the show. The rest are more confusing. I think "Sellotape" is probably their best song, better than "Bowie" or "Boom", definitely. Maybe that one's too long. But some of their funniest, most quotable songs were left off as well. Whatever, man. There's always next year.

*It's already in the mail. Expect a 3 to 5 week wait. Prizes ship to every country but New Zealand.

** For the record, I want to say that my own, as-yet-unreleased, song "Kill all Humans (Hey Sexy Mama)" was conciev independently of this song. I have witnesses that heard it performed before the show even started airing (though probably after the song was originally written).