Comedian delivers another irreverent album
By Susannah Elliott, Entertainment Editor
October 23, 2005 | 11:10 p.m.
The Craig Machine, Lynch’s third full-length album, shows a Stephen Lynch who, since “A Little Bit Special” and “Superhero,” has grown and matured -- musically, at least. The music in The Craig Machine contains more sophisticated melodies that echo soft, acoustic mainstream songs. His lyrics still manage to push the envelope and offend even more groups of people. Despite his rude and sometimes obscene lines, listeners cannot help but love the guy who strums his guitar and sings what everyone has thought but won’t say.
Lynch has said that his influences include Simon & Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell, and their presence is felt in his songs. While it is difficult to take his music seriously when Lynch croons about Nazis and pedophile professors, examining this album more closely will reveal a talented musician with an angelic voice.
The Oct. 4 release will surely earn its place among comedy and music albums alike. The CD was recorded in front of an audible live audience that not only makes the album more impressive and exciting, but lets listeners chuckle guilt-free about the Holocaust and Jesus’ brother, Craig Christ.
In the first track, “Vanilla Ice Cream,” Lynch shares that he has a taste for chocolate rather than vanilla. That’s his taste for women, not ice cream. His refusal to have any more racially homogeneous relationships is a wake-up call to listeners, hinting for them to be prepared for the rest of his new CD.
Just in time for the holiday, Stephen strums onward to “Halloween,” expressing the pleasures of Halloween for a parent’s worst trick-or-treat nightmare. As the catchy chorus begins, he sings, “A pinch of your brother/a teaspoon of you/with the head of your sister would make a good stew/I’d give you a taste, but your tongue’s in the stew/Irony! That’s what Halloween means to me…”
Channeling Simon & Garfunkel, Lynch goes on about a corpse he’d like to marry in “My First Love Song,” then continues to “Craig,” an audience favorite. Craig is “like an every man…the kind of guy you’d hang out with in real life,” Lynch says of the man he supposedly discovered while thumbing through the Bible one day.
“Beelz” and “Pierre” represent the pure silliness of the CD. “Pierre” begins with Lynch’s explaining to his audience that he bet a friend that he could write a song about anything, but was then faced with the task of singing about a homeless Frenchman. The French-accented back-up vocals are by far the funniest aspect of “Pierre.”
In “Beelz,” Lynch changes his voice once again, but this time to a flamboyant, effeminate Satan (“Hey, that’s just how I picture him!”).
Through the sentimental melody of “Albino,” Stephen Lynch tells the story of how he lost the two loves of his life, one being an albino girl he misplaced in a snowstorm. His soft, sweet voice again betrays his politically incorrect lyrics as listeners are treated to “Mixer at Delta Chi” and “Little Tiny Moustache.”
OU students may think at first they identify with “Mixer,” until they discover exactly whose story it is. And what do you do when you suspect your significant other may be a Nazi? Light piano hovers over the melody that we might describe as desperate and melancholy if “Little Tiny Moustache” just weren’t so funny. Lynch seems to take pride in the audience’s incredulous groans when he casually drops offensive lines.
Lynch ends his newest album with the self-explanatory “Whittlin’ Man” and “Classic Rock Song,” along with “Not Home” and “Voices in My Head.” If you ever wanted to know what Stephen Lynch likes to do when no one else is home, or what he’s really thinking as he bids his audience farewell, the last two tracks will tell all.
The Craig Machine is a live showcase of Lynch at his best. Fans can expect to hear the same trademark lyrical twists and punch lines, while being treated to more experienced and sophisticated musicianship.
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Visit Stephen Lynch’s official Web site at: http://www.stephenlynch.com