Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits – ¡Carmelita Sings!: Visions of a Rock Apocalypse (Deluxe Reissue)

An introduction to Bobby Joe Ebola & The Children MacNuggits draws parallels to experiencing a completely random internet meme for the first time.  Just like those Fensler flim GI JOE public service adaptations, taking in the insanity of the Numa Numa dance, or laughing at the expense of Antoine Dodson’s “bed intruder” incident, most of what Ebola and the crew rave about will raise eyebrows and perk ears.  The Edmonton act has been pushing boundaries for over two decades, and a look back in their discography reveals a career commitment to the peculiar.

For those less familiar with the poultry product-inspired namesake, Silver Sprocket has provided those of us with the opportunity to relive some of the classic MacNuggit albums out there.  Specifically, they’ve given the royal rerelease treatment to the 1999 fan favourite, ¡Carmelita Sings!: Visions of a Rock Apocalypse.  All twenty-six original songs are included along with five bonus tracks, two live songs recorded back in ’94, and a 44-page booklet filled with visual interpretations of the tunes within.

Somewhat of the punked-up, Vandals -esque underground Flight Of The Condords of the turn of the century, the band wastes no time in jumping off the psychological deep end.  “Root Canal” opens with a surprisingly catchy tale of a dentist “laundering corpses for pet food conglomerates Iambs and Purina,” and a heroic tale of resistance.  Bobby Joe fades in and out of pseudo-speaking verse narration and snarky commentary.  Some of these are smarter than others, like the tongue-in-cheek “praise” for college educations in “Money For Books,” while those like “I Love Drugs” and “Childkiller” fall flat in-spite of their ironic intent.  The particularly catchy “Skin Cancer” hits the nail on the head with the perfect combination of humor and social satire.  “Everyone’s got skin cancer, skin cancer, skin cancer, everyone’s got skin cancer, who is to blame, eh!” shouts Bobby Joe to a tropical upstroke in this feel-good ditty sure to form conga-lines from melanoma sufferers everywhere.  Other standouts include “Little Lamb” and “Mr. Abuse.”

The bonus content isn’t without its merits, but at 32 songs long it might be a little much for the average listener.  The standout b-side gem worth checking out is certainly “Cuhl Aide Mahn” which is surprisingly smart despite everyone and their brother exhausting Cool Aid Man parodies over the past decade (Dane Cook, I’m looking at you).  Considering that the album’s back half loses some momentum, the extras drag out an already exhaustive fatigue, but will not go unappreciated by fans.

Overall, Silver Sproket’s reissue of ¡Carmelita Sings!: Visions of a Rock Apocalypse is the undeniable definitive version of what has become a Bobby Joe Ebola & The Children MacNuggits fan favourite.  And as far as the content goes, even with an out of control, bloated track list, and a style that’s clearly not for everyone, there is more success than failure.  True, it’s the type of album you play for novelty and comedy rather than musical merit, but sometimes that’s all you need, an that’s when you pop in ¡Carmelita Sings! and just embrace the ride, insanity and all.