Marcy Playground Album: “MP3”

After 5 years of dormancy, Marcy Playground comes back with a bang. In the stuffy world of commercial alternative, Marcy Playground is a breath of fresh air. You'll be hooked from the sweeping synths of Spoonfed to the viola solo in Jesse Went to War. When I bought this CD, the first things ALL my friends did after hearing it was ask me to burn them a copy. I chuckled, "Buy your own."

This blows Marcy Playground's first two albums out of the water.

Buy this album, support this amazing group.

Finally, another gem from this greatly underrated band. For those of us that have waited through their label search, they have not let us down. Their nerdy pop/rock is as wonderfully inviting as it was on the two previous albums. I find this to be a very good walking album.

The major highlight for me is "hotter than the sun", a reaction to their brush with fame. "blood in alphabet soup", "rock and roll heroes", "punk rock superstar", "brand new day"........ the whole album is definitely worth your money.

Marcy playground is one of my guilty pleasures - I bought a scalped ticket to see them in college on their first tour during all of that 'sex and candy' hubbub. Their greatest virtue and most tragic fault is how fearless they are about their image and songwriting - they are not afraid to be stupid and silly. In their debut and sophomore releases, loopy tunes like 'secret squirrel' and 'saturday' rocked with more pensive songs like 'rebel sodville' or the reflective 'free to be you and me generation'. This is no more evident than on their newest release, 'MP3'. Fantastic rockers like 'Spoonfed' and 'No ones boy' devolve into the nearly insipid 'death of a cheerleader'. As the album progresses, the imagery and metaphors fall into more literal, straightforward lyrics. Having said this, marcy playground still maintain that uncanny ability to keep me listening - I was overjoyed with the news of this release, and haven't stopped listening to it since I got it. Sometimes I don't skip 'death of a cheerleader.' Likewise, 'deadly handsome man' is almost embarrassingly poppy and idiotic, but it is physically addictive! 'Punk rock superstar' and 'Paper dolls' also just make me feel great.

For those of us who enjoy Marcy Playground and have waited too long for their third effort, mp3 is a thrill. Wozniak's perfectly nasal voice is put to great effect on yet another set of songs that range from fun to somber to downright morbid at times, but the band never loses its sense of humor. "Deadly Handsome Man" is the highlight here, another self-deprecating and ironic ode to superficiality. I also loved "Rock and Roll Heroes" and "Death of a Cheerleader". More than any other band, MP manages to hook me on the first listen of each album - there is just an overwhelming sense that these guys are having fun (packaged pop be damned!). It's a shame that great alternative pop like this does not get more attention - it is mellow and fun and all about having a good time. If you enjoyed the first two MP discs, this one will not disappoint. If you didn't, this one probably will not appeal either.

There's nothing radically different here with MP's latest. Same delightful sound, same great lyrics. If anything's different, it's that this album shows a little more wisdom than the first two. If you're an MP fan, you'll love this album. If you're familiar only with the radio hits, then this album is as good as place to start as any other MP album. Either way, you'll be happy.