MR. BUNGLE

MR BUNGLE got it's start by releasing a few cassettes during the second half of the eighties, before being signed to Warner Brothers for their next three studio albums. This is their first of those three, a self-titled recording from 1991. It really is the Mike Patton and Trey Spruance show. Both part of FAITH NO MORE that was happening at the same time. Spruance would later form SECRET CHIEFS 3 and certainly that band continues with what MR BUNGLE started. That mixture of extreme styles that don't really go together. A lot of metal mixed in there, but this band is ALL over the place. Not my thing at all. Especially the lyrics and pictures. Not my world or music.

I actually connect MR BUNGLE to the "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" story. You have the food that's too hot and the chair too hard. That's Pappa and that's this debut. The most extreme and metallic record they have made. Too hard. Their third album "California" is too soft and cold. Too accessible really. Yuck! But "Disco Volante", now that one is just right although I have a hard time saying that about any of the music this band has released. And this is a long one too at over 73 minutes. Of the ten tracks "My Ass Is On Fire" is my favourite. Again it doesn't sit in one style, so even this one isn't one I'm that into. But I really like the heaviness that comes and goes.

An explicit lyric label is on this recording for the many F-bombs, and this can be vulgar. As entertaining as this record would be in any year, 1991 seemed to be just right to hit the music world with something this insane. Their motto seemed to be, lets mix as many music styles as we can in each song. John Zorn produced this. And no this isn't even close to being a 4 star record. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART seems so innocent now after listening to MR BUNGLE who took "extreme" to another level.