King Missile Happy Hour CD

With HAPPY HOUR, King Missile, the quirky lo-fi pop group centered around the rambling poetics and polemics of John S. Hall, moved up to the majors the only way they knew how. Producer Kramer adds another bump of the bizarre, and if there was ever any polished veneer on the album, it's thin as a stamp. If anything, the backgrounds wandered further off into the harsh, sparse, and experimental, and Hall's lyrics skewed more twisted and perverse. As tribal beats circle dervishly, "Martin Scorsese" imagines the iconic director accosted by a more violently intense version of himself, while the almost danceable surprise hit "Detachable Penis" told a meandering (but hilariously absurd) story of one man's worst Lower East Side morning after. The remainder of the album ranges from punk to jazz to sound art on an unsettling, at times uneven, but always fascinating record.

Producers: Kramer, Steve Watson, King Missile.

King Missile: Chris Xefos (vocals, keyboards, bass, percussion), John S. Hall (vocals); Roger Murdock (guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, emulator); Dave Rick (guitar).

Additional personnel: Mal Rick (clarinet); Kramer (mellotron, bass).

Rolling Stone (3/5/93, p.39) - 3 Stars - Good - "...at times equals the textural brilliance of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa..."
Entertainment Weekly (2/12/93, p.57) - "...The songs are accessible, but never obvious enough to kill a laugh..." - Rating: A
Q (5/93, p.96) - 3 Stars - Good - "...black, and predominantly self-deprecating, humor runs rife alongside tricky tempo changes and the plain goofy....Hall has obviously struck a nerve..."
(3/93, p.53) - "...It's rare that music makes you laugh out loud and want to play air guitar at the same time....explodes into a cornucopia of weird things....tremendously fun..."
NME (Magazine) (4/3/93, p.28) - 7 - Very Good - "...a set of songs that range from delirious cartoon novelty to full-slam guitar swoon..."