Customer Rating: 
Summary: A desert island must!
Comment: Every few months, I make out a Top 15 "Desert Island" list of my favorite albums. There are a few who always make the top 10 and this BoDeans release is one of them.
Catchy melodies, great lyrics...with not a dull song in the bunch (you know the kind--you skip it on the CD player or leaving it off when you download the album on to your computer.
You can't go wrong with this terrific CD. The Strangest Kind is one of my all-time favorite songs!
Customer Rating:
Summary: College days - Starvation vs. BoDeans
Comment: I remember it well. The BoDeans played Atlanta GA in 1988 in support of this album, of which I had the cassette
and listened to endlessly. Every song was a sing-a-long. Great lyrics, catcy riffs and sublime melodies.
The night of the show, I had $14.00 in the bank (am I glad that times have changed, very much for the better!)
Tickets were $12.00 plus a "service charge." For me, it was either food for the next few days, or the BoDeans show.
I regret my decision to this day. The soup was bland, the beans were dry and the bread was doughy.
And somewhere, out there, someone else is remembering the BoDeans show of 1988 in Atlanta.
But it ain't me babe. No, no, no it ain't me, babe. :-/
Oh wait - that's Dylan. Anyway, this BoDeans album is great. Buy it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Surely one of their best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment: I am a true bodeans fan and I think that this album is perfect!! The only song that's a little weird is "Ultimatly Fine". But the first four or five are killer hits! I stronly reccomend this to anyone out for the Bodeans!!! Guy Hoffman on drums, Kurt Neumann on vocal and electric lead guitar, Sammy Llanas on vocal and guitar, and Bobby Griffin on bass really sound good for just four musicians! Buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not Their Best
Comment: I will be the dissenting voice amid all the kudos thrown at this album. Make no mistake - I am a BoDeans fan, and I know they can crank out catchy, heartland rock like no one else.Unfortunately, this album only has flashes of future brightness. While the music is "good", it's not great. When you consider that this album came out in the late 80s, it is a miracle that it was released - the influence of simple, catchy songs from the late 50s and early 60s is unmistakable, and really went against the grain of overproduced, synth-based music of the release year.
While the music is fun and solid, it fails to rise above that - never enters the "great" zone, that leaves you humming a riff or intro for the next few days, nor do you want to crank you car volume to 11.
However, what ruins the album for me - and yes, "ruins" is correct - are the vocals. For whatever reason, Sam Llanas sings lead on most of the songs. I'd compare listening to his voice akin to scraping the inside of my skull with a fork, only less pleasant. Sam's voice is extremely limited in range, as well as being quite nasal. Kurt Neuman's voice - when it can be heard - is in fine form, and I wish he had sung lead on more of the songs.
The siezure-inducing quality of Sam's voice is curious, because with later BoDeans albums, it's much better. Either his voice become stronger, or their budget for production effects got bigger, or both.
My recommendation: skip it unless you find it cheap somewhere. Start with "Go Slow Down," "Black and White" or "Blend." Those albums feature Sam and Kurt at the height of their writing and singing powers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Lost Classic
Comment: I read Amazon reviews all the time but very rarley put anything to print. However, this album is so amazing that it deserves my valuable time. Someone said the first "side" is as good as anything from the 80's. It's as good a side as anything, anytime and don't forget that beautiful little closing track that is just so perfect. Throughout the album the guitars just bristle with a beautifully fresh sound and the melodies are unforgettable after a few listens. No one will ever top Little Feat's output from '73 to '76 but this album comes close. Indispensable is a bit over-the-top...but this album is.
