Matt Bunsen likes a bit of laugh.
For starters, he calls his band The Burners. If that doesn't make you smile (and why, indeed, should it?) take a glance at the band's bogus online discography complete with spoof covers of records by The Ramones, Peter Frampton & Johnny Cash.
For appearances notwithstanding, 'Greatest hits' is actually the band's debut album. It consists of the ten of the band's best tracks from records which have still to be released!
Still not having fun?
Then try setting aside 35 minutes to listen to the carefully selected tunes in question.
It begins in pseudo rock vein with Beer - a song dedicated to "contemplating brew" as an essential ingredient in life and possible source of world peace.
Later there is the advocacy of more serious substance abuse in a Sinatra-esque swing tune with the self explanatory title Drugs Make Me Happy ("Life sucks then you die - so while you're here you might as well get high").
When not espousing the virtues of booze and pills, Life On the Road 2.0 and Ode To Mila Kunis, reveal a, possibly unhealthy, Internet dependency as a discontented, disconnected "virtual Tom Joad" in the former and a more relaxed website owner in the latter ("got my own domain, nothing gonna be the same") .
The band have a total of four male and female vocalists as well as Matt himself and some perfectly accomplished musicians who can play a broad range of musical styles. The genre switches are deliberately designed to " keep the audience guessing about their next move" and include an amusing duet with a Tango beat (Trouble With Love) and a country tinged tune called Don't Ask Why (with some neat pedal steel from a T-Bone Bunsen!).
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My favourite track is a disrespectful cover of The Carpenters' Sing where the saccharine lyrics are put through the grinder and mashed up with the refrain from The Beatles' And Your Bird Can Sing.
A little more malice like this would have gone a long way. For example, I also can't thinking there is a missed opportunity for a more venomous message to the Nashville scene on Ode To The Hitmen Of Music Row.
Mostly, the tongue in cheek gags are quietly subversive but a little too obvious and the album hasn't much more to offer beyond its mildly amusing novelty value.
Matt Bunsen Dot Com
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