Addicted to Bad Ideas

The World/Inferno Friendship Society
"Addicted to Bad Ideas"
2007

1. Peter Lorre Overture - 4:45
2. With a Good Criminal Heart - 2:55
3. "M" is for Morphine - 3:01
4. ...and Embarked on a Life of Poverty and Freedom... - 3:32
5. Ich erinnere mich an die Weimarer Republik - 4:13
6. I Just Make Faces - 2:45
7. Everybody Comes to Rick's - 2:05
8. Cathy Catharine - 2:49
9. Thumb Cinema - 3:23
10. Addicted to Bad Ideas - 3:14
11. Heart Attack '64 - 2:40

This is going to be a hard one to pin down. First of all, I'm very mixed about this band. I happen to love this album, but the other three that I've listened to thus far ("Just The Best Party", "Red-Eyed Soul" and "The True Story of the Bridgewater Astral League") haven't really clicked with me yet, if you know what I mean. Regardless, however, this album is one of my favorite fucking albums of all time. Seriously.

World/Inferno Friendship Society is a very odd band. It's a mash up of punk, dancehall, ska, and cabaret influences, and somehow it all comes together to form an amazing and dark concept album (I promise, I'll write about more albums on here than just concept albums, but that's the way it's happened to work out so far). I've never seen them live, but apparently their shows are absolutely nuts and very Pink Floyd-esque, with Pyrotechnics, extravagant numbers and upwards of 15 people on stage at any one point in time. Check them out here if you want more info on them http://bit.ly/9iij51. Anyway, Addicted to Bad Ideas is about the life and career of Peter Lorre, which you can read about here, since I'm too lazy to post a bio on the guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lorre. As I've said before, a lot of the songs have a darker tone to them than the other World/Inferno albums, but I believe that this is what makes this album so great. It even starts off with an overture of the themes from most of the songs! That sort of screams "concept album!", doesn't it? The horn and reed combos in some of these songs are a real plus to this album, and these are exceptionally notable on the songs "And Embarked on a Life of Poverty" and "M is for Morphine", two of the darkest songs on the album. Please take note though! This shouldn't in any way prevent or stop you from listening to this album - it's an incredible album, and when listened through from start to finish it proves to be quite moving. If you are looking for a more traditional World/Inferno sound, check out the song "I Just Make Faces" (The vocal breakdown is absolutely amazing in this one), and "Cathy Catharine" - you'll get the familiar fast paced feel that other albums have, though I love the feel on this album the best. Lastly, we have "Addicted to Bad Ideas", my personal favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs, ever. It combines an incredible emotion with an ambiguous message ("Because I can, cause no one can stop me") and really serves as the climax of the album. This is the way it's done. Seriously.

Also, about to pick up the new Streetlight cover-album. I'll write about that later on.