This is the thread where we anticipate (potentially with serious dread) the new Handsome Boy Modeling School album

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Here is why this will either be the most funtastical or the absolute worst non-Palookaville album of 2004:

1) It's called White People. For reals.
2) Franz Ferdinand vocalist Alex Kapranos, Del The Funky Homosapien and Barrington Levy have guest spots. On the same single.
3) Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda are doing an old-skool meets nu-metal track with Lord Finesse, Jazzy Jay and Grand Wizard Theodore.
4) Other guests include Jack Johnson, Kid Koala, the RZA, Pharrell Williams, Mike Patton, Cat Power, the Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez, John Oates, Tarnation's Paula Frazer and Jaime Cullum.

Matos joked to me that the album was named after their target audience. My retort was that if they wanted to do that, they'd just release an eponymous record.

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

there is no way this album could not be, at the very least, memorable. I love this that good good piece about it.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

will we ever get that Good, Bad and Ugly album? The one with the RZA/Bjork collabo?

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm starting to think that GB&A thing is like our generation's Masked Marauders.

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

And that this thing is like our generation's Rock & Roll Circus. Only goofier.

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Best album title of the year at least.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

The most soulful joint on the album has Jamie Cullum intertwining harmonies with the one and only John Oates.

This is a very intriguing definition of soulful.

― mike h. (mike h.), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

dude they got Sean Lennon & the dude from Spain to get plenty soulful last time! This is nowhere as much of a stretch!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"the dude from Spain"? You mean Father Guido Sarducci?

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

in case you weren't just making a joke, Charlie Haden (of the band Spain) is on that track too.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

it's weird how I can actually be moved by the singers on that track AND giggle at Sarducci's interjections.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh, I know Guido's supposed to be Italian (hence the name) but when I first saw him on SNL when I was a little kid I thought he was Spanish, and it stuck.

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I also thought King Sunny Ade was "Italian music".

(I am not currently a foreign policy advisor to the Bush administration.)

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

haha yeah cuz you're using the past tense!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread is already potentially more entertaining than the album. Maybe.

And I speak as a sort-of fan, though the one time I saw them live it was just them sitting around smoking cigars and spinning late eighties/early nineties cuts, which I was perfectly fine with as a conceptual act...I seem to remember Kid Koala joining them wearing a Swiss hat.

(John Oates instead of Daryl Hall? I don't get it.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

you won't be the only one not to get it, Ned. This fall is all about kids who shrieked for electronica 'n' mish-mash in '98 having hissyfits when they realize their heroes aren't messiahs (and therefore pretend their long-awaited merely-good follow-ups are worthless crapheaps).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

t-minus whatever for humorless, pedantic, learned-wisdom Pitchfork review...

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

You sound bitter. ;-) I'm just surprised they didn't get both of them in, actually.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

dude handsome boy is all about thick moustaches. See album cover, Sarducci.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, you make a good point.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/270/1146/200/hbms%20cover.jpg

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.billboard.com/billboard/photos/artists/handsomeboymodelingschool2.gif

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually the implication surely is that if Freddie Mercury was still alive they'd be producing his latest solo album.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

OH FUCK THAT WOULD BE BEAUTIFUL.

I remember this hysterical SPIN piece where the two (in character) suggested make-overs for various celebrities. Dan felt that Fred Durst should make his eyebrows more arch and demonic.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, not Dan, Chest Rockwell.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Odd but fun moment -- me coming into work with the Lovage album after having found it for a buck at the dying Wherehouse across the way and my coworker getting extremely jealous and wondering where the hell I got it. Was it rare or something?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Not that I know of!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

or wait. sorry, Dan was Nathaniel Merriweather. Paul is Chest Rockwell.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

half an hr ago this thread inspired me to dl lovage. is it good ned?

― peter $.., Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

"book of the month" is the one track I'll stand by wholeheartedly.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

It's there. I think I like the cover art more than the album, but the idea of Mike Patton and Jennifer Charles just doing all these duets amuses me. Alas, there is also the lurking presence of Albarn somewhere.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

*checks album* And on a track called "Lovage (Love that Lovage, Baby)" no less.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

It's pretty bad unfortunately. Like one of UNKLE's lesser efforts. All mid-tempo breakbeats and wussy guitar melodies. And I loved the first one, too.

― bugged out, Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Nah I like a lot of it.
"To Catch a Thief," "Stroker Ace," the title track....it's pretty great stuff. Not classic or anything but worth hearing.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

oh yeah "Stroker Ace" is good too. Or at least I think the title ref is awesome.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Also it's hard when Del is your go-to rapper. I liked the Deltron album but here he's like instant valium.

― bugged out, Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

does mike patton wail like the champ i know he is?

― peter $.., Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

WTF Lovage is kick-ass. I mean, for fuck's sake, the closing track ("Flowers On Your Grave") is an ode to necrophilia! The track where Afrika Bambataa or however you spell it is giving dating tips is one of the funniest things ever recorded.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 4 October 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and I am looking forward to White People. Even with the whole Jack Johnson being on there thing.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 4 October 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Lovage's live cover of "I'm Real" with Mike Patton as J.Lo and Jennifer Charles as Ja Rule was memorably insane.

― Symplistic (shmuel), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

as i'm almost completely sure this album will be. prince paul hasn't been doing much recently, eh?

― Symplistic (shmuel), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

please tell me there's mp3s of this "I'm Real" cover out there.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 4 October 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Pharrell Williams is on it? Shit!

― Nowell, Monday, 4 October 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

The Wu-Volta track is actually pretty good.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Listening to it so far nothing's really struck me as WTF-worthy yet -- except... except! for a "Dating Game" sketch where someone does the most dead-on Jay-Z imitation in the history of the universe. There's also a pretty funny RZA impression, too ("I'll take you down to the Wu Spa... we got all kinda special manicurists out there").

This is going to be released as an instrumental album, too. From the first run-through, I'm thinking that might be for the better (the Mars Volta dude ruins "The Hours".)

― MC Transmaniacon (natepatrin), Saturday, 6 November 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

(The funny thing about the Dating Game sketch is that RZA himself is actually on one of the other tracks. I doubt it's really him in the sketch, though.)

― MC Transmaniacon (natepatrin), Saturday, 6 November 2004 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

The third-longest track on the album is a five-and-a-half-minute Guido Sarducci monologue. Jeezis people.

― MC Transmaniacon (natepatrin), Saturday, 6 November 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I dug the De La track, the Jack Johnson track (?!?!?!?!?!), the Casual track, the Tim Meadows skits (the Jay-Z and RZA impersonations were hysterical). Chino Moreno does an even worse job than the Mars Volta guy - Moreno is flat out OFF KEY. I thought the Linkin Park guys did ok (did what they do) and Chan Marshall and the Franz Ferdinand guy were alright, but there really isn't much here that's particularly striking. The De La track should be on The Grind Date, Jack Johnson should make a whole album of this stuff, Tim Meadows and Prince Paul need to make a comedy album together, Father Guido needs to shut up and the 90s are over.

― miccio, Saturday, 6 November 2004 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

the title made me hope they'd struck a little zeitgeist but the album itself doesn't have the kind of over-arching concept needed to make these random bits of filler connect.

― miccio, Saturday, 6 November 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i will show you all that could be yours if your album goes to #1 like mine did.

― jay-z, Saturday, 6 November 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Where's the jokes about the title being the target audience? In any case, my expectation is still to come away with three or four songs that I would want to listen to regularly, a couple novelty songs, and some stuff that holds no appeal. So far I've noticed it's really random who gets credited on the back of the album -- for some reason, Tim Meadows is listed next to every sketch, but by looking you'd have no idea who's guesting on different songs.

The huge "here's where hip hop meets rock and roll" song is more of a sketch than anything. It makes some sense until the big "rock" part with Chester Bennington (once again, most rock n' roll name EVER). Rapping over Vivaldi makes it listenable again for me, somehow.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 18 November 2004 04:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Where's the jokes about the title being the target audience?

First post, last line. And the breakbeats-plus-classical routine is one of those Automator tricks that's gotten kinda oldish (see also the skits in prev. HBMS record and Dr. Octagon's "Moosebumps", the only one that really worked)

― MC Transmaniacon (natepatrin), Thursday, 18 November 2004 05:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I meant it makes Vivaldi listenable, because The Four Seasons tends to make me feel ill by itself. Blame years of violin instruction. But yes, Automator has been using it as a cliche for years.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The Cat Power track is really pretty. I don't know, I am digging this whole thing like a great mixtape.

― Nostalgia for the Old Cineramadome (Ben Boyer), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh the Black Sheep track is good too, forgot about that one upthread.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

I think this album actually made me like Tim Meadows. He's pretty funny.

― Candicissima (candicissima), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

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