{"id":640,"date":"2011-11-09T05:05:45","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T10:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=640"},"modified":"2011-11-09T05:05:45","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T10:05:45","slug":"album-review-the-penguin-party-sex-furniture-warehouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/09\/album-review-the-penguin-party-sex-furniture-warehouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Penguin Party – Sex Furniture Warehouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

This one earns an A+ before the CD even comes out of the package. Sex Furniture Warehouse and Other Stories<\/em> by The Penguin Party<\/strong> isn’t just an album. It’s a book as well. And in a very effective example of synergy, the book and the CD both stand on their own; one is not strictly necessary to enjoy the other. But if you do take them together (that’s how they’re packaged), one enhances the other.<\/p>\n

Coming from Essex, England \u2013 the region that has given the world the pop genius Martin Newell<\/strong> \u2013 The Penguin Party is a band assembled by guitarist\/composer\/lyricist\/author Dave Milligan<\/strong>. Something of an unheralded rock-pop renaissance man, Milligan has been plying his trade for awhile as a member of Arco<\/strong>, and Sex Furniture Warehouse<\/em> is the Penguin Party’s second album (See Thru Songs<\/em> came out in 2008). Milligan writes songs that have both strong melodies and wry, clever lyrical turns (think Nick Lowe<\/strong>, Difford\/Tilbrook<\/strong> or Ben Folds<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The songs on Sex Furniture Warehouse<\/em> are funny, often spit-take hysterical. But Sex Furniture Warehouse<\/em> isn’t a comedy album. It’s in the man-looks-at-forty (or fifty) vein, mining universal themes in a way that will resonate with those of a certain age (and others, too). The song titles alone are a treasure of wordplay, puns and general silliness: how else to explain \u201cMike Leigh-on-Sea\u201d or \u201cMid Life Chris.\u201d What’s more, the album’s title was inspired by a store sign in Milligan’s hometown of Essex: a couple letters had fallen off the sign (or, more likely, they’d been stolen by some clever sods).<\/p>\n

All of this cleverness would matter not a bit if the songs weren’t up to muster. But the paperback book collecting the album’s lyrics makes for a quick chuckle-and-nod read, the music is pretty ace as well. The songs rock, often veering between a ska-flavored romp and straight-ahead rock’n’roll. Milligan is unafraid to sing in his native dialect, and his vocal delivery is halfway between the aforementioned Newell and Andy Partridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Like both of those supremely talented artists, Milligan crafts lyrics that are right on the edge of mocking, yet his songs still betray a fondness \u2013 even love \u2013 for the characters he’s drawn. The story\/vignette that is \u201cShe Was Only a Roofer’s Daughter\u201d channels Ray Davies<\/strong> at his storytelling best, painting a portrait of people who are quintessentially English. Yet those characters resonate in an odd way with listeners from, well, wherever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is My Station\u201d rocks with edgy, nervy attention similar to very early XTC: this really is<\/em> pop. \u201cIt’s Not Big and It’s Not Clever\u201d weds the jangle of 80s Robyn Hitchcock<\/strong> to beefy horn charts more reminiscent of Oingo Boingo<\/strong>. The lyrics — while clever \u2013 tend to sting a bit as they hit their mark with knowing accuracy. In \u201cMid Life Chris,\u201d Milligan sings of \u201can ill-advised flirtation with a motorbike\u201d and \u201ca brief infatuation with an underling.\u201d Wish to admit it or not, men of a certain age will understand where Milligan’s coming from here.<\/p>\n

But don’t get the idea that Sex Furniture Warehouse<\/em> is a collection of midlife angst threatening to unravel. \u201cSong for My Old Lady\u201d is a heartfelt love song in which Milligan implores, \u201cLet’s play while we’re still young enough\u201d and \u201cBe the parents that our people warned us about\u201d (catch that?). And it’s all supported by inventive, uptempo playing. If Madness<\/strong> had more of a rock sensibility, they might’ve crafted a tune like \u201cYou Learn to Climb When You’re Small.\u201d<\/p>\n

The height of Sex Furniture Warehouse<\/em> \u2013 the best among a no-duds collection \u2013 is undoubtedly the lump-in-the-throat tale \u201cWhatever Happened to Tomorrow’s World,\u201d a wistful yet happily resigned look at life. But then things turn very heavy, rocking like Porcupine Tree<\/strong> at their most metallic on \u201cWhy I’m Never Invited to Parties.\u201d Applying metal flourishes to a pop song, it’s a stylistic left-turn that actually works in the album’s context.<\/p>\n

The a capella intro of the ironically jaunty \u201cIt’s Just Your Lifetime; It’ll Soon Be Over\u201d sets the tone for the album’s final track. It’s a ditty that essentially says, in that oh-so-British way, \u201cstiff upper lip, gents; you’ll get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the book! The lyrics are well worth reading separately from your listening experience. The accompanying photos are clever and apt, and the accompanying essays are warm and wonderful. I know that the book and the CD are (nicely) packaged together, but the book deserves a place of honor on my bookshelf, and the CD deserves a similarly honored spot, fitting as it does between The Partridge Family<\/strong> and Michael Penn<\/strong> on my CD shelves.<\/p>\n

Sex Furniture Warehouse<\/em> is over far too soon. It’s a delight through and through, one that rewards repeat listens.<\/p>\n

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This one earns an A+ before the CD even comes out of the package. Sex Furniture Warehouse and Other Stories by The Penguin Party isn’t just an album. It’s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}