OUTSIDER LEGEND RETURNS AFTER OVER 40 YEARS. Hi-energy music that sounds like it comes from a HUMAN BEING, not somebody who sings on pitch. Everything is off the leash.

The Shaggs - Philosophy of the World. 1969. Three sisters put out the album, and anybody with taste fell in love with it. (Everybody from Zappa to Deerhoof) They couldn't sing or play instruments, but they had SOUL. Odd, yelped songs about pets and ...the philosophy of the world.

They had another album of session material, but a new album by Dot Wiggin in 2013? WOW! I didn't dream it was possible!

This is all GREAT, obviously, and every track is FCC clean. (RIYL Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Mrs. Miller, Tim & Eric, joy, beauty. Recommended if you like joy and beauty)

1 (2:08) **** [Original Shaggs song, never recorded until now] SO GREAT. Girl on a banana bike. Where she's gonna go? Weird guitar spazzing and bicycle horns.)
2 (2:43) **** [Original Shaggs song, never recorded until now] A nice guy, who helps friends. Various voices sing lines. Includes a high-pitched voice. Also
3 (2:15) **** FIRECHARGED FURY. Organ psyche-out, and measured vocals talk about, somewhat calmly, breaking the speed limit.
4 (2:56) **** "I wish I were a piranha" Folky hypotheticals about the nature of love. Funny fakeout midway through. GOTCHA.
5 (2:53) *** Soprano sax wanders around the background, as the foreground is a stumbly lover's duet. Captures all the weirdness of smooth jazz, none of the fluff.
6 (3:44) *** Plunky toy piano, delicate folky spacey singing, a little hard to make out the lyrics, she's very high in her register. About cats? Becomes a singalong at the end. Dog barks.
7 (3:32) *** C&W electric guitar. Thin, high, warbling vox. Becomes a duet. Wow, now THAT'S a plunky piano. "Sayin' Boo Hoo" singalong fadeout.
8 (2:57) **** The vocals for this one really grab you. Heavy bass, this one DRIVES. Let yourself say "eh." FAKEOUT ENDING.
9 (2:25) *** About "my cutie". Wandering piano, plucked.
10 (3:13) *** HEAVY drums, mumbled and difficult to hear vox. Again, about the speed limit, but this one is more temperate, but filled with SLUDGEY HEAVY SOUNDS.
11 (1:37) ** Surfy, instrumental. "WIGGIN' OUT." Not really as special as the other tracks.
12 (3:59) **** Sometimes things are easy, sometimes they are hard. Cycles through voices, and then there are backup singers. "Just another crazy on the farm" Ba-da-ba ends, over '80s-George-Harrison-type guitars. Soft banjo strumming and wildlife fade out SLOWLY...
13 (3:33) Cover of the classic Skeeter Davis song. The majesty of karaoke. Ends with a beautifully overbearing and syrupy backup group.

-Hervey Okkles