BUTTERFLY JOE
(Razler)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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Talk about quirky. Butterfly Joe's self-titled release on Philadelphia's Razler Records is one of the weirdest CDs I've ever heard. We're talking nice, upbeat songs like "What Did Her Autopsy Reveal?," "Happy Imbecile Song" and "Life is Better in the Movies." Weird, but definitely listenable. And a lot of fun. Butterfly Joe is a reunion of sorts of Philadelphia's Dead Milkmen, a club sensation from 1983 to 1995. Guitarist Joe Genaro and drummer Dean Sabatino were two of the Dead Milkmen, and Lisa Loeb's bassist Joe Quigley and multi- instrumentalist Andy Bresnan have joined them as Butterfly Joe. Joe Genaro recorded these 17 tracks between 1984 and 1995, and they are collected here for the first time. Butterfly Joe resists pigeonholing in the same way that bands like Three Fingered Cowboy or another project that many Butterfly Joe members and friends, Big Mess Orchestra. Butterfly Joe have been compared to Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers more than once by critics in the City of Brotherly Love, but I think they are farther out than the quirky singer-songwriter that ended up in the sniper's cross hairs behind Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary. Well, there's definitely something about Butterfly Joe, and it's just plain weird (but a lot of fun).

Track List:

Happy Imbecile Song * April, May, June, July * Don't Do This To Me Baby * Autumn Leaves * Life is Better in the Movies * Fancy Walls * Whale in the Sea * San Francisco * What Did Her Autopsy Reveal? * Seventeen * Yesterday I Was Talking to My Sister * Little Pill * Give Me A Kiss * Radio * Honey Jar * Wisconsin * Never Had a Pony

© 2000 - Eric Steiner