BRAIN: Peter Bohovesky solo album

[brian halligan]

> There's been some good things said about this album on the
> list so far, so I thought I'd whip up a full blown review.
>
> We all know Peter Bohovesky from his guitar work in The Brain
> Surgeons.  Or
> at least we thought we did.  The absurdity of "Donkey Show" was only
> the
> knob on the fence post compared to what he wafts our way in his new,
> eponomous solo album- A piece of pure puberty painstakingly warped
> into a
> sonic hormone bonanza.
>
> All you men, think back to your teenage years.  If you were like me,
> your
> life revolved around dreams of being a rock star and getting laid (not
> necessarily in that order.)  I believe Peter's album speaks to those
> dreams, and lets us know that, hey, we haven't changed at all since
> then.
> Sometimes it takes a pint or two to bring it out, or sometimes it just
> takes a song called "Tanked Up and Horny."
>
> Women can find all sorts of male stupidity to laugh at, and maybe even
> figure out why their significant others do the odd things they do.
> There's
> plenty of real-life relationship situations that you might relate to.
> And if all
> else fails, the music is as refined as the lyrics are crude.
>
> This album features some great guitar playing and singing from Peter.
> The harmonies are a cross between Weird Al, The Everly Bros., Moxy
> Fruvous, and Rock-a-pella.  In other words, they're unique and well
> done.
> The guitar work is familiar to Brain Surgeons fans as the
> non-traditional
> almost Fripp-like sounds from songs like "Everything is Blue" and of
> course "Donkey Show."  Plenty of more traditional licks also find
> their
> way into most of the songs to balance it all out.
>
> The production and mix on the whole album is really clean.  It suits
> the
> vocals and guitar sound well.  The only place where it falls through
> is in
> "Donkey Show", which is too thin sounding when compared to the Box
> of Hammers version and the rest of the songs on the solo album.
>
> Some of the highlights of _Peter Bohovesky_ include the original
> version of
> "Donkey Show" with a third verse not heard on Box of Hammers.  If
> there was
> any mystery about what this song describes, you won't be wondering any
> longer.  This leads into one of the most innovative, and fun, songs on
> the
> album, "Tourette's Syndrome."  Robert Fripp himself would approve of a
> song
> like this- written in 3,4,5,6 and 7 time.  "Tanked Up and Horny"
> contains a
> sample from one of the funniest movies of all time, and backs it up
> with
> killer riffs and dead-on lyrics.  There were only 2 or 3 songs that
> weren't
> up to the quality of the rest.  "Chicken Today" and "No Meat" are
> mediocre
> rockers.   Even so, I've been listening to the entire album without
> skipping any tracks.  Other standouts finish off the album, including
> the
> tastefully disgusting "Grandma's Vagina" with its horn section
> straight out
> of a late '70s Chicago record, and the two serious songs on the album:
> "Nothing Good" and "Let Go."  I once had a tape of a college acoustic
> trio
> called "Trinity."  Their music was mellow and mostly disposable,
> except for
> one track, which I saved before I erased everything else.  I play it
> every
> once in awhile sitting in my room with the lights dimmed.  It's an
> honest
> song that might have come from an open mic night at a lonely coffee
> shop.
> "Nothing Good" is like that song, only more moving and engaging.
>
> If you're still wondering if this album will steal time from Blue
> Oyster
> Cult, or Hawkwind in your CD player, I should tell you that Mr. Albert
> Bouchard is the drummer on 7 of the 18 tracks.  Add to that a legion
> of
> talented musicians you've never heard of and arrangements that were
> years
> in the making.  So what's wrong with being a kid again for 40 minutes?
> Listen to _Peter Bohovesky_ and find your pichones.
>
>