Well, well, well. The fourth and final album from the creators of hardcore punk, (X also followed this trend). As some of you may know, I reviewed the other Dead Kennedys albums. Fresh Fruit and Plastic Surgery Disasters were both outstanding punk albums. Then Frankenchrist came along and sounded to generic. It left the band's genre with it's five minute songs. Now we stumble upon this album
Bedtime For Democract. I hate to say it but it's more of a
B-Sides. That isn't always a bad thing, as most of these songs on here stick to the insane tempos and guitar riffs provided by East Bay Ray. This album does have that classic DK sound, but most of the songs sound exactly the same here. With this minor "con", atleast the album has 21 songs on it. Anyway, here I go with my review for
Bedtime For Democracy.
Dead Kennedys - Bedtime For Democracy
The album begins with the insane opener
Take This Job And Shove It. It's just a punk romp. All you need to hear is 30 seconds of the song and you'll know the rest. It's super repetitive. But hey, this is a b-sides so expect a lot of this.
Hop With The Jetset is the next track and this one has some substance. The chorus is extremely catchy, you'll find yourself singing..."Hop with the jetset toooonight"! The next song is
Dear Abby and it's horrible. It's Jello imitating an old spanish woman. I guess it's a little funny but not for a song. All the songs so far are under two minutes. That's another thing to expect a lot of.
Rambozo The Clown follows that past crap and this song actually has really good lyrics. It explains how the media can do anything to anyone. Like a soldier toy in a cereal box will have an effect on it's owner. Great song with a funny ending but I won't spoil...
Fleshdunce is next and it's nothing special. Just lame old generic punk. The same repeating riff and vocals AGAIN.
The Great WAll is also just another mess of lyrics and guitar. It's all so bland and generic. I'm also sick of the exact same drum beat for the past four songs now...
The following track is the beginnning of all the good stuff.
Shrink is the first of the stream of good songs. It has a great bassline awesome vocals. But this is only the beginning. Here's what's next.
Triumph Of The Swill is great and has a cool intro. It's a disembodied voice saying, "We found our son dead on his bed with headphones on listening to Ozzy Ozzbourne, then I called my lawyer". Great subject matter and I'm not being sarcastic. It actually passes the two minute mark so that makes me happy. Then up next is
Macho Insecurity, which is totally insane in a good way. It rocks in every way possible. I like in the chorus when Jello screams the title with all his heart. This is definitley the angriest song so far. Up next is
I Spy. The intro has music which is similar to the openign to any James Bond movie. Then it throws you into a fast, and crazy insane punk song. Wow, is it great too. Flipping amazing. Great song, also in the bridge you hear the James Bond theme being whistled. This is DK at their finest. Then comes
Cesspools In Eden. This is one of the bands classic songs. It starts with Jello honking a loogie into the mic and then an infectious riff begins. Now this is some great stuff. Not to mention that this song spans five minutes long. It's really catchy. In the chorus it seems to drag on a little though, but that's the only problem.
Up next is
One-way Ticket To Pluto. I started a new paragraph because this section of the album to the end, varies. I really can't say much about this song because I can't understand the lyrics. I also can't really hear much of the music over Jello's "NANANANA's" either. So I guess it's about average.
Do The Slag is funny because it sounds like a rejected "jazz-swing".
Do A Commercial is next. It's more like a skit, but it's really funny. I love it. Jello acts like an MTV announcer and he does it perfectly. It is hysterical! He even mentions something called the 'Rockin Racism Convention'.
Gone With My Wind is what follows as the last track fades out. It's pretty cool. I like it because of the tempo changes in midsong and the guitar is awesome. Sweet song.
Anarchy For Sale, my favorite song is on now. It's a gigantic adrenaline rush. It's Jello calling out prices for certain things. The song just kicks ass. The instruments maintain the same pace the whole time, but it's just Jello that carries out the whole song and keeps it unbelievably interesting. My highlight of the album.
Chicken*** Conformist is next. It's rather slow but still cool. Did I say slow... because I meant fast. No no no... slow. Just kidding, the song switches tempo like crazy. This another 'five minuter'. After this we see
Where Do Ya Draw The Line. It has that classic Dead Kennedys sound to it which is good. But the same pace (like some of the others) gets old after a while. Well anyway, next is
Potshot Heard 'Round The World. This is a great title to a song, I'm sorry it's just cool. Anyway, this has a slow intro but has the great DK sound to it again. The song depicts funny scenes of death. It just kicks ass. It's a good thing that it's short though because once again, it gets old. Up next is
D.M.S.O.. The song starts off dangerously slow with creepy noises. The song is about all the problems with the world. It's pretty interesting. Jello goes from police riots to arthritis meds that kill you. Then it fades out, it was mainly just a spoken word song.
Lie Detector is the 21st and final song on the album. It has that classic feel to put the 4th and final album by the legendary Dead Kennedys to rest. The song ends with a blast as did the bands carrer. All the lawsuits between two record companies tore the band to shreds. This makes me sad :(. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my review!
Pros
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+ 21 Songs!
+ Great classic DK sound
+
Anarchy For Sale
Cons
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- Songs sounded the same
Recommended Tracks. AKA, the Fantastic Four
Anarchy For Sale
Rambozo The Clown
I Spy
Triumph Of The Swill
