{"id":526,"date":"2011-05-19T01:49:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T00:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=526"},"modified":"2025-05-17T19:01:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T18:01:14","slug":"mmm-mmm-mmm-jammin-with-the-crash-test-dummies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=526","title":{"rendered":"Mmm mmm mmm…Jammin with the Crash Test Dummies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had the opportunity to catch the Crash Test Dummies the other night at Jammin’ Java<\/a> – a cool little coffee house\/restaurant\/bar<\/a>.  Best known for Brad Roberts’ distinctive bass baritone voice, they had a few pretty big hits including “Mmm mmm mmm mmm” and hauled in 14 Grammy nominations in the 90’s.  Then a number of band members left to pursue their own projects and Roberts took a few years off.  As in six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they’ve got a couple of new albums out now.  You can hear sounds from both on their website<\/a> – scroll down to the bottom to see what’s playing.  Oooh La-la is a new studio album with Brad Roberts and Ellen Reid from the original lineup, and a whole host of other musicians, described by Roberts as “very accomplished, high-priced players and arrangers have volunteered to play on it for free, just because they think it is extremely unique”.  And it is pretty unique; and good, I think – well worth the price.  The other album is a collection of demos Roberts dug up from 1996-7 – recordings rejected by their recording company – called “Demo-litions.”  When I chatted with Roberts after the show, he said he was curious what people would think of it.  Personally, I think it’s certainly interesting and has its charms and a couple of good melodies, but some of the tunes are a bit tricky to relate to, and…strange.  Maybe it’ll grow on me, but for now I’ll say that Demo-litions is probably of interest to die-hard fans and collectors, but likely not of general interest.  Do have a listen on their web site – Oooh La-la is definitely a keeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what about the show?  I’ll say up front that one of the things I like most about CTD is the strong bass and beat on “God Shuffled His Feet”<\/a>, and I was a bit concerned when Roberts and Reed stepped on stage with only a guitarist (Stuart Cameron).<\/a> They led off with the track “God Shuffled His Feet”, which didn’t really “work” for me without the bass, and Roberts had a bit of trouble with pitch here and there.  But once they had worked out the kinks in this first song, things went much better.  They slowed down (it seems to me) some of their tunes, and Cameron did a great job adding a more melodic, pensive mood that was more appropriate to the bassless, drumless sound.  In a couple of cases, the “acoustic” version actually worked more for me than the original.  Check out “Playing Dead”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n