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I understand the appeal of trying to prove that one can produce something very quickly, I've done so myself, but as should be obvious to any, even those who have never tried to produce something quickly, the work can easily suffer. There is less time for revision, to understand what is necessary and what is not, etc.

I think Phideaux knew this going in to the project and had no intention of creating a masterpiece, merely to come up with some good songs and put them on an album. And in that sense, this album succeeds. The lyrics are not quite up to the quality level of Phideaux's other albums, some of them being downright cheesy (Have You Hugged Your Robot and Run Singing Tiger come to mind). But this album also reveals how effortlessly the band can come up with a great melody and theme and build a song around it.

The quality of songs varies greatly, with the album being very front heavy - the best tracks including Have You Hugged Your Robot (it's cheesy but it sure is fun, and the robot voice-effects give it a bit of a humurous edge) and Never Gonna Go (which has a great rocking feel to it and the most impressive vocals on the album).

Unfortunately, I feel like by the time Orangutan rolls around, the band was running out of steam, and they never reach any real high heights from that point on. Some songs are just boring - Run Singing Tiger does absolutely nothing for me.

If you are a fan of Phideaux's music, then more good songs by him can't be a bad thing, and those exist on this album. But it is too uneven and not quite as polished as his other works, and so I hardly recommend this as a starting point for those curious about this prolific project.

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