ALBUM REVIEW: The Go! Team "Thunder, Lightning, Strike"

THE GO! TEAM “THUNDER, LIGHTNING, STRIKE!"


1 cup of lo-fi samples from some tape cassettes
1/2 Cup of Bubble Gum Dance Beats
1/2 Cup of B-Girl/B-Boy Style
6 oz. Soul
6 oz. 1,2,3,4’s
1 Cup 70’s children’s morning TV
1 Cup 70’s Cop Show
2 lbs. Mint Royale, The Avalanches


Put that in for 40 minutes and what you have is the Brighton, England six member coed band, The Go! Team (that exclamation point is not a typo, and believe me they deserve it). From the second you put in “Thunder, Lightning, Strike!” it opens with that shrieking noise to a wonderful “One, Two Three, Four” sample of cheerleaders, and you are in it to win it.

You have an inclination that good times are to be had from the first 15 second taste. If it’s a Milton Bradley game, dinner, wine party, shower, bathroom break, I-Pod on the subway, a drive or anything, this album is like that amazing wine that goes with ANYTHING and everyone, even those who hate wine (dance, break beats, etc.), will enjoy it.

“Ladyflash” gives any lady that Pam Grier feel of walking down the street to “kick ass and take names” dancing. But don’t fret men, “Junior Kickstart” gives you a chance to be Starsky (or is it Hutch), and not that diaper duo Stiller and Wilson. I will tell you that you are that cop Barney Miller always wanted to be in the late 70’s. “Feel good By Numbers” can make you feel like Schroder of the Peanuts is playing in the other room with some MORE “One Two Three Fours”.

Are you ready for more B-Boy break dancing, Sugarhill style and “Electric Company” sing-alongs? Then “Bottle Rocket” will have you imagining you are Ramon in “Beat Street”, about to dance it out for some kids on “Zoom”. Coming around third base on this record is “Huddle Formation” which instantly I came up with the perfect music video idea, but this album has that all over it for anyone to do that. The Go! Team have made the term “let your imagination run wild” a reality for themselves and the audience in which they pull it off to a “T” (for TEAM). So are you hungry yet?! Good! Then put this album in, and serve immediately.
RATING: A

TV REVIEW: The Boondocks review 1 of 2...

BOONDOCKS (Sundays, 11pm, ADULT SWIM)

When we think of Sunday Comics, most people my age have given up. Peanuts are now reruns and we have said to ourselves on Wednesdays, “Is Doonesbery still around…Jesus that Opus was phallic.” Sunday morning got a whole lot better since Garfield, and less than a decade ago Dilbert, became half hour length TV Cartoons. But, the curse of Sunday comics as cartoons is that Garfield couldn’t hold down the fort alone, so he brought some of his friends. And who the hell is Dilbert, you yuppie scum! So, is it okay to turn comic strips to cartoons? The Peanuts STILL replay holiday specials for a reason.

I’m sure some of you have had Sunday brunch with Aaron McGruder, who has given us a reason to turn to AT LEAST page 2 for some good ol’ not black and white but “color” reading, with two young urban hip, politically charged, not so P.C. boys Riley, and older brother Huey. McGruder is now giving us the Sunday late night snack, 12 hours later with the half hour Comedy Central or Adult Swim tug of war cartoon of Huey, Riley and Grandfather in “BOONDOCKS.” Adult Swim 1, Comedy Central 0.

I have been following these kids for years now wishing they were my own, and Vanessa has taken them in as well hoping for them to go to nice schools, and get great jobs when they grow up, we still have the spare room waiting. But after last night…I think we can wait on having Huey and Riley as children and maybe we can hang out with Granddaddy more. Grandfather Robert Freeman, voice of John Witherspoon (Friday, Soul Plane)….YEEEEAH BOOYEEE, moves them into the suburban white picture postcard for American Beauty neighborhood. No idea where the parents are as of yet, very good.
Huey and Riley are miserable, and we haven’t sent them to school yet, nor have they made any friends. And the viewers are miserable from these voices of Huey and Riley. Huey, I was expecting HUEY, HUEY NEWTON or Malcolm X, or MLK for him being the leader in the strip. But no, you get the voices that sound like Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson from these kids.

The pilot episode opens with Huey having dreams of crashing Garden Parties saying “Ronald Regan was the Devil!!!!!” and “the Government doesn’t care about 9/11!” GOOD FOR YOU BOY! But, when “Whitey” (Ed Asner) comes knocking on the door to meet the family, dreams become a reality for Huey. And Huey goes all the way!

I’m not going to get into too much of the show since there’s a RERUN on SATURDAY Nov. 12th at MIDNIGHT! Just watch it. But I will give these notes…
1) No Chris Rock yet…and I mean YET! Good!
2) Please get by the voices
3) Good laughs for use of the word Nigga on TV, Huey speaking his mind
4) It is the PILOT!!! Which are usually eh, anyway. We cannot judge yet…

So with that in mind, this is ONE out of TWO reviews of “Boondocks”. For now, the best is John Witherspoon holding his own as Grandfather. McGruder writes along side Reginald Hudlin (Everybody hates Chris, House Party, Bernie Mac), which makes the show true to the comic, but something is missing right now. Maybe we can put a finger on it next Sunday.
RATING :B-