Frenzy

Still quite early in the Mojo Nixon canon, this album presents a well-produced session featuring his duo with percussionist Skid Roper, augmented slightly by guest vocalists and a drunken-sounding choir. Musically, Nixon always seems to be taking baby steps, but his creations here indeed become more elaborate and silly, the creative behavior more than justified by a Nixon lyric such as "I'm Living With a Three Foot Anti-Christ." While the man's debut effort, simply entitled Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper, had established that the San Diego-based rocker was something of a weirdo, some of the songs on Frenzy make it plain that it is a full-out weirdo the listener is dealing with. Sometimes his ammunition is crude, attacking the over-hyped MTV with sexual innuendo or the rambling incoherency that befalls this particular performer when he simply runs out of ideas. What is delightful about this record is the feisty social commentary, delivered with lots of heart in a manner that recalls great performers of the past such as Harry McClintock of "I'm a Bum Fame." There is no doubt that McClintock himself would have highly approved of tracks such as "I Hate Banks" and "Ain't Got No Boss." The cover version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is better, and shorter, than the original.