Returning after a two-year recording hiatus (during which bandleader
Danny Elfman
recorded a solo album),
Oingo Boingo
forsook the excesses of smart-aleck humor and quirky production that had led critics almost universally to dismiss the band's first four albums. The sound is still maybe just a bit too uptight and over-determined, but the horn charts are more focused and sophisticated, and
Elfman
has matured considerably as a lyricist. Alongside such typically oddball fare as the title track and a surprise hit song called
"Weird Science"
are the faintly paranoid
"Just Another Day"
and the frankly romantic
"Stay,"
as well as a glorious
Motown
tribute called
"Help Me."
But
is what really brings things to a close with a bang -- though it reverts somewhat to the band's earlier indulgence in wacka-wacka sound effects and willfully crazy production technique, it's also one of
Boingo
's most satisfying
pop
songs ever. Overall, this is perhaps the first
album to hang together really well as a whole. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson