[.ca] Give Me Immortality..

From Amazon.com:
The apocalyptic comedians of the Firesign Theatre return with Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death, their first studio recording in nearly 20 years. Like their original classics, this one tells a story that is greater than the sum of its satire, double entendres, and nonstop puns. Join the festivities as FT's own Radio Now broadcasts the end of the world, live on December 31, 1999. You'll hear Joe Camel's farewell speech, learn about the mysterious guys in eyeball hats, and be on the scene for the Princess Goddess Doll Drop. Old fans will get goose bumps as used-car dealer Ralph Spoilsport returns to sell cloned body parts, but even (puzzled) newcomers to the Firesign universe should be hooked after a few repeat plays. The more you listen to Give Me Immortality, the funnier it gets. --John Sulak

Still Tops In The Satire Game:
They're back with a passion. In their first new release in what seems like forever, Firesign Theatre shows that they still got it in spades. From old faves like Ralph Spoilsport to new characters like Bebop Loco and Chump Threads, the boys serve up a nonstop megamix of their rip-roaring comedy with "Give Me Immortality, Or Give Me Death". For those not familiar with these guys, Firesign Theatre began in the late sixties as an unorthodox comedy improv group, lambasting virtually everyone and everything, thus becoming a mainstay of late night progressive radio. A whole generation became so familiar with their material that they could quote most of the sketches from memory. Before Saturday Night Live, they were the reigning gods of humor with such classic albums as "Don't Crush That Dwarf...Hand Me The Pliers" and "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once, When You're Not Anywhere At All?". In their heyday they actually inspired a few knock offs like the Credibility Gap and the Conception Corporation who were quite good in their own right, but couldn't keep up with Firesign' prodidgious and prolific output.They inspired the National Lampoon Radio Hour as well. As the seventies dragged along, the albums diminished in quality a bit in my opinion.But this new one is better than all but the first three, no mean feat. Masters of aural disguise, they seem to have every accent down pat.The production, with myriad sound effects and original music, is nothing short of visionary. And their satire is right up to date in the hiphop era. A few years back they performed at U. Mass. to support their excellent double retrospective "Shoes For Industry" and made a couple of stopovers to local FM stations to leave their much sought after station IDs. It is a tribute to their longevity that the only spoken word material in so many collections then and now are their unique productions. If you posess even the bare rudiments of a sense of humor, you won't be dissapointed with this one. Forty seven minutes and a cavalcade of hiarious album photos as well.

Not for everyone, but worth a try:
I've had people tell me right out loud that they don't see what I find funny about Firesign Theatre. When people say this, I know they just don't THINK the same way I do. It takes a certain kind of outlook to appreciate this humor, and if you have it you have it, and if you don't you don't. One thing people don't understand is that funny and laugh-out-loud funny aren't always the same thing. The late Mike O'Donoghue once said, "Making people laugh is the lowest form of humor." There's also humor in turning people's expectations on their heads, spotlighting the absurd in everyday life, and making people think in new ways, even if it's just for a few moments. And this is where the Firesign Theatre excells. That said, this album isn't as good as the Firesigns' work from the sixties. It lacks the same sense of absurdity as they once did, nor the same gift for an exemplary turn of phrase. This doesn't impugn the quality of the finished product by any stretch. Some of the difference might be that they've changed with the times; it might also be that they've simplly been apart too long. Still, this is a worthwhile album, even if the subject matter (the hypothetical Y2K Crash) is now dated. Enjoyable with a glass of sherry or a cold beer.

Hello to the Future:
This is a great CD. As a fan of the original FT, I was worried that new work would not live up to my expectations. Needless concern! This new disc is "weirdly cool" (one of the repeated phrases on the CD, soon to become another FT idiom in our house). Cloned body parts, anyone? Also, nice to hear from Ralph Spoilsport again. Firesign Theater has brought their piercing commentary into our age. Despite the GREAT and manic layered humor of the disc, one of my favorite sections is the last cut, during which the radionow staff says goodbye to the past ("goodbye Death, goodbye Lincoln Towncars") and says hello to the future ("hello global warming, hello aluminum radio hats"). Comedy for our time. BUY THIS DISC!

Go Eyeball!:
I've been a fan of Monty Python and Firesign for decades, and this CD is the best of all of them. It's like perfect love, ladies and gentlemen; it gets better every time you feel it. The timing, story line, and background stuff are all amazing. One needs to cuddle up to this gem with some headphones and glass of Zinfandel to catch all the nuances. Everything on radio is satirized here: psuedo-spiritual DJs, talentless media news hounds, big corporate media conspiracy and facism, inane advertisements, and psycho-babbling call in talk show shrinks. Everyone's welcome to their own opinions, of course, but for this man's money "Immortality" is the funniest satire of the entertainment industry ever made.

Back in the shadows again:
This is easily the masterpiece of the recent batch of Firesign reunion discs, and where the others have an easygoing feel that's downright likable, this one is dark and scary enough to take you right back to those Altamont Gram Parsons-dying-in-the-desert LA-sliding-into-the-Helter Skelter 70s. The difference is that it's all in bite-sized bits-- if the best older albums were like an LP-long guitar solo (brilliant or self-indulgent, as the case may be), this one is as slick, disciplined and hooky as a Clapton comeback album.

• Unconscious Village: Wake Up
• Eyeballs in the Sky
• Us Plus: Pork
• Celebrity Stalker
• Sports in Your Shorts
• Ralph Spoilsport's Going out of Body Sale
• News Drought Continues
• Goddess Air Presents "Hullo, Don't Worry! "
• Developing Chase Situation
• Pull My String
• Princess Goddess Escapes the Celebrazzis
• Chump Takes Some Hits
• Polar Pro: Texas Trots
• Miss Shelob's Feelin' Poorly
• Unconscious Village: Last Days Sale
• Mr. Coffee Comes up Zeros
• Glacier
• Gridlock at Homeless Stadium
• Polar Ice: Party Vertical
• Going, Going, Gone a la Blonde
• Sex With My Hat
• Trippple Ripppoff
• Night Whispers
• Bebop and Dwayne Feel No Pain
• Smokin' Joe Says Farewell
• Us Plus: Zeros and Ones
• Chump Makes a Resolution
• Doll Drop
• Radionow Says Good-By and Hello