Ass Ponys - Some Stupid With A Flare Gun
by Geraint Jones
published: 17 / 12 / 2001
Label:
Unknown
Format: CD
intro
Beset by problems, mostly relating to distribution, personnel and record labels (I guess for a band, that’s about as difficult as it gets!) since their inception back in 1988, the Ass Ponys, from Cinc
Beset by problems, mostly relating to distribution, personnel and record labels (I guess for a band, that’s about as difficult as it gets!) since their inception back in 1988, the Ass Ponys, from Cincinnati, Ohio, have stubbornly refused to throw in the towel. Whilst the band’s output has until now eluded me, the recent arrival of their fifth album, the bizarrely entitled’ Some Stupid With A Flare Gun’ has made me more than grateful for their persistence in the face of adversity and indifference. The hub of the band is undoubtedly Chuck Cleaver, whose darkly comic tales of the absurd and unpleasant are given greater indelibility by his wonderfully eccentric voice, which sounds like a hybrid of that of Pere Ubu’s David Thomas and early Michael Stipe. Tales of suicide, psychosis, iced tea and extra nipples have never sounded so enticing. Chuck Cleaver and the other Ass Ponys, Bill Alletzhauser, Randy Cheek and Dave Morrison have conjured an exuberant and irresistible album of strange, catchy-as-hell songs, all superbly produced by the talented and prolific Brad Jones. The Ass Ponys’ ‘Some Stupid With A Flare Gun’ is an absolute revelation and amongst the best albums I’ve heard this, or indeed any year.
Track Listing:-
1 Pretty As You Please2 Astronaut
3 Fighter Pilot
4 Love Tractor
5 Your Amazing Life
6 Sidewinder
7 Swallow You Down
8 X-Tra Nipple
9 Magnus
10 Casper's Coming Home
11 Kitten
12 Between The Trees
most viewed articles
current edition
Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sala Apolo, Barcelona, 29/11/2023 and La Paqui, Madrid, 30/11/2023Anthony Phillips - Interview
Difford and Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook
Rain Parade - Interview
Oldfield Youth Club - Interview
Autumn 1904 - Interview
Shaw's Trailer Park - Interview
Cafe No. 9, Sheffield and Grass Roots Venues - Comment
Pete Berwick - ‘Too Wild to Tame’: The story of the Boyzz:
Chris Hludzik - Vinyl Stories
most viewed reviews
current edition
Marika Hackman - Big SighSerious Sam Barrett - A Drop of the Morning Dew
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland - Swing Fever
Ian M Bailey - We Live in Strange Times
Loves - True Love: The Most of The Loves
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Autumn 1904 - Tales of Innocence
Roberta Flack - Lost Takes
Banter - Heroes
Posey Hill - No Clear Place to Fall
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart