Track listing
- 1 Somewhere in America There's a Street Named After My Dad
- 2 Spy in the House of Love
- 3 Out Come the Freaks
- 4 Earth to Doris
- 5 Love Can Be Bad Luck
- 6 Boy's Gone Crazy
- 7 11 MPH (Abe Zapp Ruder Version)
- 8 What Up, Dog?
- 9 Anything Can Happen
- 10 Robot Girl
- 11 Wedding Vows in Vegas
- 12 Anytime Lisa
- 13 Walk the Dinosaur
- 14 I Can't Turn You Loose
- 15 Shadow & Jimmy
- 16 Dad I'm in Jail
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11 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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What Up, Dog? [p] 33 rpm
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What Up, Dog 33 rpm
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What Up, Dog? 33 rpm, Abridged
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What Up, Dog? Bonus Tracks
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What Up, Dog? Abridged
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What Up, Dog? 33 rpm
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5 Reviews
Clever and enjoyable little album. I hadn't heard this one for a while, so I threw it into the CD player to see if it was as good as I remembered. Unlike many other 80s offerings, it has stood the test of time well.
Featuring a series of vignettes exposing the downside of the American dream, 'What up Dog' is lyrically smart yet compassionate while remaining musically savvy.
Top 30 single 'Spy in the House of Love' is great 80s pop -- smart lyrics and a tune that lodges itself in your brain.
'Boy's Gone Crazy' is a tale of a boy called Johnny who's, well gone crazy.
'Anything Can Happen', the single that got away (ie the stupid UK public didn't buy it) is just superb. A witty tale of the underdog coming up trumps, it's packed with lyrical gems; 'she wasn't that great, but it was was gettin' kinda late'. This poor girl was married to a 'schizophrenic biker'. Tragic.
Another lady offers the line; 'there's just one bed would be that OK?' Hold on while I think about that.
The marvellously titled; 'Somewhere in America there's a street named after my dad' is actually a salutory tale of poverty and homelessness, where bosses like Mr.Fowler pay 50 cents an hour. 'Showbiz beginners making global decisions.' Who can they mean?
'Out Come The Freaks' spears the seedy side of public life. I particularly like the tale of Bobby Maggot 'the big attorney', tastefully described as a 'bald-headed piece of garbage.' Contempt for the legal system? Surely not.
'Oh Lord I ask you what kind of beast is man?' Couldn't have put it better myself.
'Love can be bad luck' is not surprisingly about the downside of relationships, while 'Shadow and Jimmy' is a sad little tale of two blokes with dead-end lives.
'11 Miles an Hour' (such a deadly speed) is about JFK's assasination, while 'Robot Girl' is yet another of those uniquely 80s fantasies about mechanical females whom we've still yet to see. Surely somewhere somebody is working on this project.
The title track is little more than a quirky interlude, followed by 'Anytime Lisa', a tale of that lady we all know and have (temporarily) loved. 'Everybody took a piecea anytime Lisa'.
'Wedding Vows in Vegas' falls just short of annoying and then it's the big hit 'Walk The Dinosaur', not the best track on the album, but the one the public remembered. Rather like Tom Robinson's '2-4-6-8 Motorway', it's often the silly sing-a-long rather than the biting social commentary that some acts get labelled with. Mind you it does name-check Miami Vice.
'Can't Turn You Loose' is a great pop workout in Blues Brothers tradition, while the album bows out with the manic 'Dad I'm in Jail', presumably a call from the boy gone crazy.
This wasn't a big album in the UK, which is a shame, but it remains a fun yet thought-provoking 80s statement.
Featuring a series of vignettes exposing the downside of the American dream, 'What up Dog' is lyrically smart yet compassionate while remaining musically savvy.
Top 30 single 'Spy in the House of Love' is great 80s pop -- smart lyrics and a tune that lodges itself in your brain.
'Boy's Gone Crazy' is a tale of a boy called Johnny who's, well gone crazy.
'Anything Can Happen', the single that got away (ie the stupid UK public didn't buy it) is just superb. A witty tale of the underdog coming up trumps, it's packed with lyrical gems; 'she wasn't that great, but it was was gettin' kinda late'. This poor girl was married to a 'schizophrenic biker'. Tragic.
Another lady offers the line; 'there's just one bed would be that OK?' Hold on while I think about that.
The marvellously titled; 'Somewhere in America there's a street named after my dad' is actually a salutory tale of poverty and homelessness, where bosses like Mr.Fowler pay 50 cents an hour. 'Showbiz beginners making global decisions.' Who can they mean?
'Out Come The Freaks' spears the seedy side of public life. I particularly like the tale of Bobby Maggot 'the big attorney', tastefully described as a 'bald-headed piece of garbage.' Contempt for the legal system? Surely not.
'Oh Lord I ask you what kind of beast is man?' Couldn't have put it better myself.
'Love can be bad luck' is not surprisingly about the downside of relationships, while 'Shadow and Jimmy' is a sad little tale of two blokes with dead-end lives.
'11 Miles an Hour' (such a deadly speed) is about JFK's assasination, while 'Robot Girl' is yet another of those uniquely 80s fantasies about mechanical females whom we've still yet to see. Surely somewhere somebody is working on this project.
The title track is little more than a quirky interlude, followed by 'Anytime Lisa', a tale of that lady we all know and have (temporarily) loved. 'Everybody took a piecea anytime Lisa'.
'Wedding Vows in Vegas' falls just short of annoying and then it's the big hit 'Walk The Dinosaur', not the best track on the album, but the one the public remembered. Rather like Tom Robinson's '2-4-6-8 Motorway', it's often the silly sing-a-long rather than the biting social commentary that some acts get labelled with. Mind you it does name-check Miami Vice.
'Can't Turn You Loose' is a great pop workout in Blues Brothers tradition, while the album bows out with the manic 'Dad I'm in Jail', presumably a call from the boy gone crazy.
This wasn't a big album in the UK, which is a shame, but it remains a fun yet thought-provoking 80s statement.
Published
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A combination of slick 80s funk-pop and off-kilter experimentalism, like some sort of demented cross between Hall & Oates and They Might Be Giants.
Published
Immediately, the cover sets up an alternate reality. Edged with abstractions and absurdity, the title track's stream-of-concious lyrics come to life before your eyes; the anti-hero and "credit card." A scan of the lyrics sheet provides fruitful reading. Each song seems to be loosely connected, existing in a dystopic, urban milieu. Masks are left only to reveal ugly, hidden truths; conversely, the characters in these songs need a pose for survival in the world painted, played, and vocalized so reconditely throughout these sixteen.
"Somewhere in America There's a Street Named After My Dad" beguiles in its smooth execution. Sweet Pea Atkinson's singing reality is filled with "angel dust Bryons," "sabertooth neighbors," and "pinky ring hustlers" as he wishes to find an imagined street named after his pop, so that he can ultimately find peace and love in "the home we never had." The 50's cool of "Anytime Lisa" surprises one even further as Atkinson adopts a doo-wop coo to unravel the tale of a nymphomaniac he secretly adores attempting to arrest her troubles, give her a sweet life. But, his delivery is knowing. As if he's not letting on to his true intentions. There's a bit of ambiguity in the song.
No, ambiguity is not the word. This is an album with an open mind, the kind that'll giggle if you ask, 'are these songs open to interpretation?'"
"Lisa" bleeds into the next track of egging and disarray "Dad, I'm in Jail." Maybe Sweet Pea was a bit more coy in his sweet as Starburst reading of the last line in "Anytime" -- "There's something inside that I want to touch?"
The album ranges from oddly Adult Contemporary sounding fare like "Love Can Be Bad Luck," and the album opener to the more avant, heavily percussive pieces like "Earth to Doris," "Boy's Gone Crazy," and "Shadow + Jimmy."
"Walk the Dinosaur," while regarded as a party favorite is not made for intimate longplaying. This one's made for the dancefloor or living room with its maxed-out horns and synthwork.
There's much more to be said about this album, but it's far from classic (some of the album's production falls on the wrong side of the 'dated' spectrum.)
Being a casual fan of Was (Not Was), it held my attention. Worth checking out, if only for "Anytime Lisa."
"Somewhere in America There's a Street Named After My Dad" beguiles in its smooth execution. Sweet Pea Atkinson's singing reality is filled with "angel dust Bryons," "sabertooth neighbors," and "pinky ring hustlers" as he wishes to find an imagined street named after his pop, so that he can ultimately find peace and love in "the home we never had." The 50's cool of "Anytime Lisa" surprises one even further as Atkinson adopts a doo-wop coo to unravel the tale of a nymphomaniac he secretly adores attempting to arrest her troubles, give her a sweet life. But, his delivery is knowing. As if he's not letting on to his true intentions. There's a bit of ambiguity in the song.
No, ambiguity is not the word. This is an album with an open mind, the kind that'll giggle if you ask, 'are these songs open to interpretation?'"
"Lisa" bleeds into the next track of egging and disarray "Dad, I'm in Jail." Maybe Sweet Pea was a bit more coy in his sweet as Starburst reading of the last line in "Anytime" -- "There's something inside that I want to touch?"
The album ranges from oddly Adult Contemporary sounding fare like "Love Can Be Bad Luck," and the album opener to the more avant, heavily percussive pieces like "Earth to Doris," "Boy's Gone Crazy," and "Shadow + Jimmy."
"Walk the Dinosaur," while regarded as a party favorite is not made for intimate longplaying. This one's made for the dancefloor or living room with its maxed-out horns and synthwork.
There's much more to be said about this album, but it's far from classic (some of the album's production falls on the wrong side of the 'dated' spectrum.)
Being a casual fan of Was (Not Was), it held my attention. Worth checking out, if only for "Anytime Lisa."
Published
If there was ever a band that would DARE to throw a monkey wrench into the wheel of top 40 in the 80's, it had to Detriot's favorite band. Songs about the JKF assassination, stalkers, weddings in Vegas, loners trying to find love and ending up with their own shadow, a phone call from jail and other was just the antidote for the mindlessly happy MTV/Reagan era!
Published
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For those of us who listened to music in the 80's this is the Was (Not Was) album with tracks like "Spy In The House Of Love", "Boy's Gone Crazy", "Anything Can Happen", "Somewhere In America There's A Street Named After My Dad", "Robot Girl", and "Wedding Vows In Vegas" with vocals from Frank Sinatra Jnr.
It also contains yet another version of "Out Come The Freaks", and the big millstone around the bands neck "Walk The Dinosaur".
This has to be the best album from the band.
It also contains yet another version of "Out Come The Freaks", and the big millstone around the bands neck "Walk The Dinosaur".
This has to be the best album from the band.
Published
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Catalog
11 May 2024
15 Mar 2024
20 Nov 2021
3 Feb 2021
13 Nov 2020
2 Nov 2018
24 Oct 2014
22 Mar 2013
19 Jan 2013
10 Jan 2013
17 Jun 2012
17 Mar 2007
14 Mar 2007
27 Jan 2007
28 Dec 2006
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