Richard Cheese- Sunny Side of the Moon

Since 2000, Richard Cheese has been producing comedy/jazz albums. This mid-career Best Of was released in 2006.

Like for Weird Al Yankovic's albums, I find that the choice of original song plays a big part in whether I enjoy the parody. So, even if the adaptions of songs like Rape Me, Baby Got Back, Bust a Move and Freak on a Leash are brilliantly executed, I struggle to enjoy even these versions. Although, at the other end of the spectrum, the original version of Creep is unfortunately too sacred for me to enjoy the parody.

That's the bad news out of the way, because the concept of mixing lounge-jazz with shocking rap/metal/grunge lyrics is a masterstroke in my book. People Equals Shit is a perfect example; the gutter profanity becomes very amusing when mixed with the gentle lounge-jazz music.

Closer and Nookie differ slightly in that they use a boogie-woogie musical style, and it works just as well.

At this point, it seems there is a very simple formula to success for Richard Cheese. This is to find the song with the sickest lyrics possible, then put it to saccharine backing music. So while Sunday Bloody Sunday and Another Brick in the Wall are solid efforts and bring nice variety to the album, for me their lack of immature amusement means they're relegated to album fillers.

My earlier comment about Creep is a bit hypocritical, given my reaction to Rock the Casbah. The original is a song I enjoy so much, that almost any half-decent cover of it is enjoyable for me.

Also quite uncontroversial (relatively speaking!) are the lyrics to Hot For Teacher. Despite this, I really enjoy this version, as it replicates the fantastic sense of chaotic energy from the original song, with a nice twist of the different style.

At the other end of the intensity scale, the slower tempo of Come Out and Play  allows the original's clever lyrics time to be properly appreciated. Very nice.

Building up from an anonymous and innocent jazz start is another trick well used. For example, Down With the Sickness and Gin and Juice could well be any other lounge jazz songs, until he starts dropping f-bombs and hoes left, right and centre. This is probably the only time in jazz history we'll hear lyrics such as:
So we gonna smoke a ounce to this. 
G's up, hoes down,
While you motherf***ers bounce to this.
The arrangement gives the songs some lasting appeal, as they build up nicely and have good structure. Another highlight for me is the nice use of plastic strings for Gin and Juice.

All of the above is cranked up to the extreme for Badd. The extensively reworked lyrics allow it to start relatively innocently, before it builds-up into a hilariously degraded climax of X-rated mahem. Fantastic!

PS I forgot to mention the recording quality... it's brilliant.

Favourite songs

People Equals Shit, Closer, Down with the Sickness, Nookie, Rock the Casbah, Hot For Teacher, Gin and Juice, Come Out and Play, Badd

Worthwhile?

So silly. So fun.