Tenacious D's first album was released September 25, 2001 by
Sony/
Epic Records. Personally, I've been waiting for this album for quite awhile. My first exposure to Tenacious D was the
HBO specials, and I was surprised and dissapointed to find out that they didn't have an album. I did, however, manage to hoard every live recording I could find. When I caught word that
The D was going to release a studio album, I immediatly called a in a few favors within the
record industry to get a copy on its release date. (aka: I called my friend who works in a record store).
The entire album is a perfect capture of The D's humor, parody, and rock tribute. It's hilarious and at the same time very good music. They know how a hook works and extend their vocal humor to style parodies and some very
tongue-in-cheek riffs. To help on this journey, they enlist an great array of musicians to help:
Dave Grohl (
Foo Fighters) - Drums
Page McConnell (
Phish) - Keyboards
Warren Fitzgerald (
The Vandals) - Guitars
Steve McDonald (
Red Kross) - Bass
Many fans were worried that their humor might not come across on an album, because a large part of their humor is
sight gags. I think they caught it perfectly and they mixed in little skits/
spoken word bits throughout the album that still make me
laugh.
The album starts off with
Kielbasa, which they play live and had a small snippet of it in the
HBO special. However, on the album it's actually a combination of
Kielbasa and
Tenacious D Time and they blend together incredibly well. Kielbasa benefits greatly from some great wah-wah pedal
funk guitar thrown in for good measure. It segways perfectly into
Tenacious D Time and simply rocks from then on. A perfect opening to the album and as an added bonus, shuts up all the
naysayers who thought
The D would suck with a band behind them.
The album moves into the second track,
One Note Song. The first "sketch" on the album, it details the creation of well, a one note song.
"
That's one song in the bank. Next song. Next Song!"
Next is what was Tenacious D's first song:
Tribute. One of my favorites, it tells the tale of their meeting with a demon, and the subsequent creation of "
The Greatest Song In The World". Sadly, Tenacious D forgot what the song was and had to write this tribute song to it. I was a little dissapointed that they took out the
Stairway to Heaven riff, but they replaced it with an obvious Zepplin parody instead. A constant crowd favourite, and they managed to capture it well.
The fourth track,
Wonderboy, is a strange sort of ballad telling the stories of
Wonderboy (
Jack Black) and
Young Nasty Man (
Kyle Gass). It's strangely haunting, and for some reason it gives me chills. The style seems to be an allusion to early 80's metal, namely
Dio and
Yngwie Malmsteen, but mixed with Tenacious D's acoustic ballad style. In fact, they keep the imagery of the music by singing about
broadswords and a
Hydra. I still don't understand why this song makes me feel so creeped out and a little
sad.
There's now a music video for this song, and shows both Jack and Kyle in nordic warrior dress tramping through the cold, cold north. It's all filmed in parody of epic filmaking, and in the end Jack dies on his own sword. I laugh while I watch it, but I'm still a little uneasy about the song.
Another short exchange between Jack and Kyle called
Hard Fucking follows. It's a very funny conversation concerning the common complaint about well, hard fucking.
"You know what the test is? You just say, "Get on top, honey.""
Fuck Her Gently follows up on the conversation perfectly. A sappy rock ballad complete with
violins. A perfect parody, and damn funny. The D has always had some very funny things to say about sex, and this is certainly no exception. Another one in the bank.
Of course they couldn't go long without playing a fan favourite and they throw down with the all rock
Explosivo. A tribute to
Satan and the powers he has given them. Very well done, but barely different from any of their previous versions.
The eight track,
Dio, is my favourite pick from the whole album. A tribute to
Ronnie James Dio, and asking nicely that he step down from
rock and pass "his cape and sceptre" to the D. While the style isn't really
Dio, you can definitely hear the influence.
Another skit,
Inward Singing follows, and is the demonstration of the talent of singing while breathing in. Kyle doesn't show the proper respect to the invention, and quits/is fired from the band.
"Think about it! Rock singers are only rocking you half the time. The other half they're breathing!"
Kyle Quit the Band follows, and is almost identical to the previous versions. They did, however, tack on some solos at the end. Still rocking, even though not much changed.
No true
rock band would be complete without a "road" song, and The D is no exception.
The Road is one rocking rip-off of blues licks,
Bob Seger, and God knows how many southern rock bands. It's funny, but I can't listen to it without thinking of
Ozzy's "Momma I'm Coming Home" for some reason. Strange.
Another skit follows, entitled
Cock Pushups. The title pretty much says it all.
"So, how many can you do? I guess you can only do one, really."
Lee is a song from the
HBO specials, and isn't preformed live all that often, but I'm glad they included it on the album. It's very short, and this version is actually faster than the TV version. It's about the band being obessed about a fan ("Lee"), and basically consist of them saying "Lee" faster and faster. The drums really help out on this, and help speed the song along.
Next is a "phone conversation" (actually just them talking in the studio) between Jack and Kyle called
Friendship Test.
"You fucking passed the test, but barely. You know what you got? F+. *click*"
Friendship is the band's tribute to friendship.
"As long as there's a record deal we'll always be friends." Background hand clapping, a little finger picking. A nice mellow song, without a hint a being borish or slow. Not the best song album, but because none of the song are
bad, i'll have to say this is the bottom song. Sorry, guys.
Another skit,
Karate Schnitzel follows. Kyle eats Jack's
schnitzel.
"Well maybe this is fair game! OW! Yeh that's right, it's a karate chop."
After the skit lead in, the d kicks into
Karate. Another song from their HBO series, it's basically about kicking ass with
karate. This is the "full" version, as the version on the HBO series isn't really the whole song. Really a classic D song, and they do it in D style. Dual
acoustic assault!
Rock Your Socks Off is another crowd favourite, and mixes a little
Bach (it's a rock block of Bach), a little classic rock, and ends with as much thrash is possible on an acoustic guitar. Another tribute to all types of
rock, and of course a tribute to themselves. Jack shows off his skills as a vocalist, and Kyle shows his golden fingers.
The last skit on the album,
Drive-Thru, details Jack and Kyle driving though
Burger King.
"Shut up and listen to my order. Take the six nuggets, and throw two of them away. I just want the four nugget thing, I'm trying to watch my calorie intake."
The eleventh track,
Double Team, is all about the lovin'. The original version was very good, and this one just improves on it. Heavy electric guitar blending into more
funk style and they even throw a nice little
porn organ. The whole thing is solid rock, yet manages to be very funky. Crunchy with a little swing.
The final track,
City Hall, is the D's revolution tune. It tells the story of Kyle and Jack becoming the Two Kings after the revolution, and eventually poisoning eachother. The longest song on the album, it's really just a run-of-the-mill D ballad, a little acoustic picking and some nice strum patterns. The real show-off of this song is the storytelling and Jack's voice. A great and mellow way to finish out the album. There's also a little hidden track at the end for the faithful.
A perfect first album for
Tenacious D. It's strong is selling
very well. Many people were afraid the duo would lose something when they have a band, but I'm sure this album proved them wrong. Go buy it, you certainly won't regret it. I haven't found a person yet who can't appreciate what
Tenacious D does.
The Tenacios D Website: www.tenaciousd.com
Also see: www.sidehatch.com