19. Musical Bar-B-Que by Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNSGRXF51dE&list=PLAC1DE8344E299852&index=1
Top-Notch Tracks: "It Smells Like Cartoon Planet," "I Love You Baby," "Don't Touch Me," "I Love Beans," "I Love Almost Everybody," "Oh Fun Key Bay Bee," "Hoodliehoo," "Put Your Socks On Mama," "Highway 40 Unplugged"
Album Depth: "Zingor," "Ordinary Guy," "Minkey Boodle," "Everybody Needs Lovin'," "What Day Is It?" "The River," "Crazy Lovesick Fool," "The Water Song," "It Stunk," "De Der Down,"
Weak Links: "The Cartoon Planet Story," "The Song That Never Ends," "Everybody Wants to Be Space Ghost," "Ramblin' and Wanderin'" "Don't Send in the Clowns," "Bye-Bye, Goodbye Everybody"
Stand-Out Lyrics: "It smells like--Asparagus and Cabbage! It smells like--Boxer Shorts! Is smells like--Ahhhhh! It smells like Cartoon Planet, Hoowee!" -- It Smells Like Cartoon Planet
"Somebody left the cake out in the rain. Oh, nooo! I was gonna eat that cake. But now it's all wet, and I don't think I want any!" -- I Love You Baby
"I've got ants in my pants as I do the mating dance for Zingor, Zingor, Zingor." -- Zingor
"Our ancient love will survive the scourge of mankind and evolution." -- Zingor
"Don't touch me!" -- Don't Touch Me
"Wake up in the mornin' and tinkleedoo. Take a hot shower. Watch the news! Then it's eggs over easy on the greasy side. Oh, yeah, I'm just an ordinary guy." -- Ordinary Guy
"Work day's over and I got me a date with a big fat piece of pie! I sit around thinking what a good boy am I. But hey, I'm just an ordinary guy. Just an average superhero kinda guy. I'm just an extra ordinary guy!" -- Ordinary Guy
"Nobody comes to visit me in my little cloud. I don't know why. Maybe it's cause I'm cuttin' muffins." -- I Love Beans
"I got my mojo risin'. There's a poodle in my stroodle! Minkey Boodle! Minkey Boodle!" -- Minkey Boodle
"So tell me that I'm smelly. Tell my I'm a dope. But say you'll be my sweetie. At least give me hope. Cause I could use a cuddle, and a smooch or three. Everyone needs lovin'. Even me." -- Everyone Needs Lovin'
"You know, love is a happy time all throughout the universe. It's when a male part of the species goes to the female part of the species and says, 'Hey you want to go on a date?' and then she would say, 'Why yes, I'd like to go on a date' if you're lucky! And then you go to a restaurant, and she gets something called 'a salad,' and then he gets a big piece of beef that he eats. And that, to me, ladies and gentlemen, is love. Kind of makes you cry, doesn't it?" -- I Love Almost Everybody
"You pick your left foot up until you touch your nose. Put your rear on your ear and wiggle your toes. Hop all around like a kangaroo. Your almost ready to Hoodliehoo. Grab some pickles and a pound of cheese. Get some burgers on mayoneese. Eat 'em all up and don't forget to chew. Now you're doin' the Hoodliehoo!" -- Hoodliehoo
"I'm goin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!" -- Highway 40 Unplugged
Album Cover: 9 of 10. One point deduction for leaving Moltar off the cover (and the album). The idea that Space Ghost lives in the suburbs and hosts backyard bar-b-ques with Zorak and Brak is simply delightful. What's even more delightful is that the scene takes a horrific turn for the worse on the back cover when the grill explodes, blowing a hole through the backyard fence. And that, kids, is why grownups should never add lighter fluid once the briquettes have started glowing.
Comments: I cherish the memories of watching Cartoon Planet's "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" with my young son--who very much loved his dad during the 90s--in the basement of our little brick home on Tanager street in Pocatello. However, my memories of this album are mostly of listening to it with Erik during my grad school years while we were driving from Smithfield to Logan. I also listened to it by myself on headphones while working at Utah State writing HTML code in a teeny, tiny office. My latest memory of the album is of listening to it with my son while driving from Disney World to his home in Stuart and laughing our fool heads off. (He is now as old as I was when I started grad school.) For a father and son to have an album that they both love to listen to and laugh at for over 20+ years is no small thing.
Besides the lyrics listed above, my favorite parts of the album include several songs in which Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak engage in some comedic scatting. I actually did some comedic scatting during my teenage years, so I really appreciate the artistry involved. See, the seniors on the football team demanded that I scat for them Louis Armstrong style while they sang "This Little Light of Mine" on the bus rides home from the games. They even made me scat to the song in front of the home crowd during a school-wide rally on the football field before the Homecoming game. Was it a dumb thing to do? Yes. Was I embarrassed to do it in front of all those alpha females in the cheerleading squad and the pep club? Yes. But when you're a scrawny kid trapped on a bus with muscle-bound seniors that are more than willing to pound you into a pile of silly putty during football practice, it's a good policy to humor them by doing whatever they ask you to do. For football practice during my junior year, scatting meant surviving. Of course, during my senior year when I had put on a little muscle and didn't have to worry about other guys trying to take my head off in practice with a flying tackle, I stopped scatting.
There are 25 excellent songs on this album, but between some of them are little spoken tidbits that are lots of fun to listen to as well. Zorak's Nugget of Joy and Brak's School Daze story (I told you never trust a monkey!) always tickle my funny bone (which is located somewhere in my torso area above my belly button but below my ribs). I like to follow along with these spoken interludes by doing the Zorak parts in my Zorak voice. For some reason, when Space Ghost first came out, I put in enough effort to figure out how to do a Zorak impersonation, but I could never master the voices of Brak or Space Ghost. Maybe I found Zorak easier to do because he's evil just like me. Or maybe it's because I've always had a high regard for the praying mantis because it eats all of the nasty bugs in the garden. In fact, along with the ladybug, it's one of the few insects I refuse to kill even if they make it inside the house. Also, Zorak plays the keyboard, so we have that in common as well.
Why is this album so high on my list? Because not only does it activate happy memories of those days when I was kind of a cool dad, it still makes me laugh harder than any other album on my top 60 album list, including Weird Al's "Poodle Hat." So for all the joy that it has provided in the past and still provides today, this Musical Bar-B-Que makes it into my top 20 favorite albums.
Up Next: It's as big as a whale, and it's about to set sail!
#19: Space Ghost’s Musical Bar-B-Q—I believe I told you that there were two albums on your list that made me chortle with glee and excitement when they were revealed, this album and the soundtrack to “Man From Snowy River.” I didn’t consider either of these albums for my list, not because they were unworthy of consideration, but because neither fits into the standard categories of albums that I included on my list. And while “Man From Snowy River” would probably land somewhere in the 60-75 range on my list, “Space Ghost’s Musical Bar-B-Q” should DEFINITELY be on my Top 60 list.
ReplyDeleteListening to the album again, it’s impressive how much damn fun it is! And it’s impressive just how deep this album is, too. Most of the songs you’ve listed as “Weak Links” are pretty damn good, if you ask me. (You didn’t ask me, but maybe you should have.) And while the comedic stylings of Brak and Zorak have always been obvious, it’s worth noting that Space Ghost himself can be quite a hoot.
There are three albums in the Space Ghost musical trilogy, and I have always thought of them as being equal. But, looking at the individual tracks, it is clear that “Musical Bar-B-Q” is heads and shoulders above “Surf &Turf” and “Brak Presents The Brak Album Starring Brak.” And that’s saying a lot, because those albums have some comedy gold on them. (Just the other day I told someone at work that “that is not my puddle.” And who hasn’t found themselves singing “I’m a Cucumber” or “Beeflog” around the dinner table?)
I’ve long thought that “Cartoon Planet” and “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” were underappreciated comedic gems. They were at the forefront of the adult animation wave that has blossomed over the past twenty years or so. But, one thing that Space Ghost, Brak, Zorak, Moltar and crew did better than any of the shows that followed was the ability to have humor that both adults and kids could find funny. It hit that sweet spot. (“These adult shows today are just way too adulty,” the Grumpy Old Man yells at his television while waving his fist in the air.)
I could go on and on about the brilliance of this album, but I think it’s best summed up by this: “Barnyard animals! Oink! Quack!”