[.ca] Marcy Playground

From Amazon.co.uk:
Marcy Playground's John Wozniak was one of those kids who, like Charlie Brown, got a bag of rocks for Halloween instead of sweets. Fortunately, Wozniak used his childhood ostracism as the inspiration and fuel to write charmingly quirky pop songs. Wozniak woos the listener with his smooth, low-key vocals and light-hearted delivery of weighty, somewhat twisted, and darkly humorous songs. "Poppies" gives a cheery history lesson on the origins of the international opium trade, while "Elvinkind" and "Dog and His Master", with its chorus of "One little, two little, three little idiots," could become new, if slightly warped, children's standards. And then there's the country feel of "Sex & Candy", with the sing-along refrain "I smell sex and candy here". One of the qualities of an exceptional band is the ability to tell a story through their music; something that Marcy Playground succeed at beautifully. --Gail Worley

title:
ok just a brief warning i guess. anyone thinking about getting this: this cd kicks ass. especially "sex and candy". BUT the song "opium" is like smoking it exactly esp.in the beginning of the song and its fine except don't listen to it when you ARE smoking unless you really want to be tripping out. like a LOT. at least i did. just a friendly warning.

More than 'Sex and Candy':
This is the very peculiar debut album from the band Marcy Playground, fronted by John Wozniak. Wozniak was that kid who always got picked-on on the playground, and damaging childhood experiences provide the inspiration for several of the songs here. The lead single, which everyone has heard by now is the fantastic "Sex and Candy", a smokey drawling ballad. Some of the cuts are quite eccentric yet fascinating, such as "Cloak of Elvenkind" and "Walls of Flowers", and the entire album is full of the quirkiest lyrics this side of Bjork. Other stand out tracks include the ode to a lost love "Sherry Fraser", the upbeat yet biting "Poppies", the anguished "Saint Joe on the Schoolbus", and the humerous finale "Vampires of New York". John Wozniak is a sensitive man with a rare wit and sense of humor. His debut album is definitely on the mellow side, but if you listen to the lyrics there's definitely some fire down below, and the very personal nature of his writing can only be described as confessional. Definitely not a group to be cherished by the inane mainstream pop fanatics, Marcy Playground is one of the most intriguing releases in recent memory, and not to be missed.

Marcy Playground:
Marcy Playground~ Marcy Playground is a curious album. Hence , the music is kind of boring and the lyrics are not that great. But the vocals are pretty good and on the whole it is descent if somewhat boring album.

It's better than double-cherry pie!:
When Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy" hit the airwaves and climbed all the way up into the pop top 10, they were quickly labeled as just another Nirvanawannabe band... except with dummied-down guitar riffs. Despite some minor success with "Saint Joe on the School Bus", that proved to be the last opinion the mainstream had to give on the band, as their next record commercially bombed... but even so, this album (and the next, somewhat) itself ARTISTICALLY proved that Marcy Playground wasn't just another lame Top 40 act. From the energetically calm (?) opener "Poppies" to the dark, deep, and sarcastic closer "The Vampies of New York", MP's selftitled is purely gripping and playful... and in a way only this band can do it, mysterious and poetically solid at the same time. Besides the obvious radio smash "Sex and Candy", the band manages to elaborate on lost childhood with "A Cloak of Elvenkind" and "Sherry Faser" without sounding like a middle-age crisis, thanks to John Wozniak's one-of-a-kind vocals and the rest of the band staying on the same tempo and emotional level... and these are just the highlights of an album full of top-notch tunes. Basically, if you don't mind a dog urine reference ("Dog And His Master") or the theme of suicide ("One More Suicide"), there's nothing on this album not to love. Is this the most musically varying album ever? Absolutely not... it's very, very far from that, actually. But MP's trademark sound is so smooth and soothing that there's no reason to care. This playground's as fun and happy as one would want during the day, and mysterious and dark during the night... but either way, it's open 24 hours a day, and always ready to enchant and entertain.

Essential alternative band:
Marcy Playground is amazing. It's sad that they haven't got the recognition that they deserve because this is an amazing album. John Wozniak's voice is smooth and smoky, almost in the style of a lounge singer and it makes the whole record. The lyrics and dark and twisted, yet humorous. I'm sure you've all heard "Sex and Candy" one of the best songs on the album. What I like about this album is that no two songs sound the same. Poppies sounds very alternative rock, while Sex and Candy is almost countryish, ancient walls of flowers is pretty acoustic rock, Saint Joe on the school bus is irresistable pop-rock, Cloak of Elvenkind is almost a sort of ballad, Sherry Frasier, a sweet love song, Gone Crazy almost a tropical-ish sing along, Opium almost depressing heavy rock (great though!) One more suicide, my personal favorite, a haunting tale about a man in chehalis, Dog and his master a child's nursery rhyme with a twist, Shadow of Seattle, another dose of alternative and Vampires of New York, a tongue in cheek acoustic romp. All in all this is a great album. If you like Nirvana, the Pixies, Modest Mouse, The White Stripes or Elliot Smith, this album is definitely for you.

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