A special radio-friendly version of a 90-minute cassette tape put together by Chicago’s very own Bob Dey’s Tank Engine Man. This hilariously-narrated concept album documents the life happenings of the clueless, absentminded Mr. Talent using a medium that is half music and half spoken narration. The narration is witty as hell and the music is stellar 60’s retro revival pop songs that bring the Beatles or the Byrds to mind. Yeah, that’s right. I just RIYLed the BEATLES.

If you want to play the whole thing (highly recommended) check out the cassette located in our tapes section, because this abridged version doesn’t really do it justice. If you’re going to play this CD version play at least a few of the tracks for context, since it’s a very linear and meant to tell a story.

For what it’s worth, this is my favorite release of the year.

ALL TRACKS FCC CLEAN

***1. Smooth synth and dancey drum machines with an early 60’s pop feel to it. Killer voice inflection and curt stabs of electric guitars. Slick in a wine-you dine-you crisply-folded pocket square sort of way.
**2. Goofy vocal skit about Mr. Talent arriving at the party he apparently wasn’t invited to.
**3. Midtempo poppyness with lots of jangly percussion and drum machine. Very upbeat with great vocals and subtle guitar accents.
***4. 16-second narration where Mr. Talent leaves the party.
5. One-minute narration where Mr. Talent feels ill after eating the party cake and decides to go to bed.
6. Sitar-driven track with excellent percussion and enough poppy elements to keep it singable.
***7. Narration where Mr. Talent has a cake-induced hallucination/nightmare where he goes back to the party to find it abandoned. Instead he finds a demon who haunts him, then commits hara-kiri, releasing a flood of jewels and treasures from his bowels. I know, rad, huh?
**8. Jaunty synth keyboard piece with live drums and bright, sunny chords. Great vocal samples.
9. Narration conclusion with a smooth acoustic background piece.