Conan O’Brien
“And They Call Me Mad?”/”Live At Thirdman Records”
Reviewed: 10/20/10

Four tracks, two from a single (to be accurate, a vanity single), “And They Call Me Mad?”, and two from a live music show LP, in which Conan plays blues and rockabilly.

I just wish it were better—only track four is useable.

1. An ad-libbed Frankenstein riff. Conan does his best Ernest Thesiger/Vincent Price, and the story has some moments, but it won’t make for good radio—there’s no backing music at all, and it runs a leisurely five minutes.Maybe if the DJ supplies a sound bed for it, it might work. But don’t blame me if it doesn’t.

2. An interview track. (NOTE: interview tracks are always dismal. Absolutely dismal. This is dismal.) Jack White interviews Conan. Interminable, with exactly one highlight: Conan sings “Button Up Your Overcoat.” Simply not worth it.

3. (FCC—Bullshit, prominently by Conan and then by backing chorus.) God, just when a track is good, it has a goddamned FCC. Conan does blues-rock (with a wall of saxes) for an adoring crowd, singing about his privileged upbringing, and how it influenced his family’s love of Polk Salad. Why, FCC? Why? (5: 34)

4. Okay, finally a track we can use. Conan (joined by Jack White) covers Eddie Cochrane. Some great rockabilly vibrato. (Remember during the writer’s strike, when Conan did his show sans writers for a good two months? And mostly sang rockabilly and timed how long his ring would spin on his desk?) No real comedy here, but the rockabilly is solid, with breakneck timing, and some great backing brass. Ends with Conan thanking the crowd, and leaving to drink white wine. (3:52)