A punk rock EP based on the board game Clue sounds like a totally ridiculous idea, so of course I love it. Out on Rum Bar Records, Gets A Clue is, to the best of my knowledge, Boris the Sprinkler's first release in the EP format in two decades. There are at most five bands in the world that could properly pull off a Clue-themed mini album, and BtS is one of them. This is the band's first new music to be released in five years, so I will welcome any concept. A tribute to Don Majkowski? A rock opera about Taco Bell sauce packets? A Metal Machine Music cover album using only kazoos and toy drums? If Boris is putting it out, I'm buying it. In my book, Boris the Sprinkler is certainly the most underrated and no doubt one of the very best of all those '70s-style punk bands that formed in the '90s. As the world pauses to reflect with awe on the 30th anniversary of the release of Boris's debut album 8-Testicled Pogo Machine, I can't think of another band that was more important in informing my musical tastes and opening the gateway to so many staples of my record collection. And if the best record label on the planet saw fit to release this group's Clue-themed EP on compact disc, you should be ordering now and asking questions later.
You may wonder who in the world would want to hear Boris the Sprinkler playing songs about characters from Clue. Well, the target demographic is simple. It's 99 percent Boris fans and 1 percent people who take the game of Clue more seriously than life itself. And of course the people who love the band and the game (which I'm guessing is the majority of Boris fans) will be going nuts for this thing. Musically, this is vintage BtS goofball '77 punk-pop. The band's classic lineup is on board and sounding totally hot. If you're a Boris fan, these songs will remind you why you got into the band in the first place. Tracks like "I Wanna Dance Like Professor Plum" and "No One Loves Mr. Green" are totally giving me Saucer to Saturn/Mega Anal vibes. I must say the execution of the concept is top-notch. This is a fun and wildly entertaining collection of songs that I keep on listening to over and over. Of course there's no other lyricist in the universe like Norb, and here his creativity in writing about the iconic Clue characters is the stuff of delight. This is probably the first BtS release that's appropriate for children, so full family listening parties are not out of the question. Paul #1 never gets enough credit for being one of the true guitar superstars of modern-day pop-punk. Once you solve the mystery of who offed Mr. Boddy, you can get busy trying to figure out if any theft of classic punk riffs has occurred. Ric Six and Paul #2, the unsung heroes of Boris the Sprinkler, are in fine form as well.
Gets A Clue is available now from Rum Bar Records. Next week, Boris the Sprinkler hits the road with Egghead. and The Ergs! to play tour dates in Somerville, Brooklyn, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. That, my friends, is the holy trinity of geek punk all in one place. History shall be made!
https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gets-a-clue
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