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are a drag

Having already skewered and punkified easy listening classics on Have A Ball, Fat Mike and his cohorts have set their sights on well-known songs from film and Broadway musicals. Once again, the So-Cal punk formula is applied to these familiar tunes with surprisingly listenable results -- for instance, while "Science Fiction Double Feature" (from Rocky Horror) might be expected to adapt readily to such constraints, Rogers and Hammerstein's "Favorite Things" comes off with unexpected brilliance, as does the "Phantom of the Opera" song. "Rainbow Connection", meanwhile, could only be improved by vocals from a drunken Kermit the Frog, and the schmaltzy "What I Did For Love" somehow acquires a great deal more credibility and pathos when removed from A Chorus Line's context. There's even a high-speed take on "Tomorrow" for all the listeners who've ever wanted to picture a mohawk-coiffed Li'l Orphan Annie pogoing around chez Warbucks. If you haven't figured it out yet, Are A Drag is just plain fun -- and a way to bring you closer to all your theater-loving friends who don't own any CDs that aren't Broadway soundtracks...

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Are A Drag
Fat Wreck Chords
CD

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Review by George Zahora

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