The Dead Milkmen - Eat Your Paisley!
1986 Fever Records

Track Listing:
1.  Where The Tarantula Lives
2.  Air Crash Museum
3.  KKSuck2
4.  Fifty Things
5.  Happy Is
6.  Beach Party Vietnam
7.  I Hear Your Name
8.  Two Feet Off The Ground
9.  The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
10. Six Days
11. Swampland Of Desire
12. Take Me Apart
13. Earwig
14. Moron
15. The Fez
16. Vince Lombardi Service Center

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Rodney Anonymous Melloncamp, Joe Jack Talcum
Guitars:  Joe Jack Talcum
Bass:  Dave Blood
Drums:  Dean Clean

Website:  www.deadmilkmen.com

Shev's Rating:  A
Average Album Rating:  A

Quick Summary:
Following up their well received debut, Big Lizard In My Backyard, The Dead Milkmen storm the world with their sophomore effort, Eat Your Paisley!  Gone is the raw, dirty feel from the debut, and in it's place is a more meticulous and polished feel along with an obvious increase in technical playing ability, most notably by Dave Blood on bass.  Even the lyrics, while downright retarded in it's own right, teeter on slightly serious with songs like "Fifty Things", "I Hear Your Name" and "Take Me Apart".

With the whole "slightly serious angle" put aside, this has another obvious advantage over Big Lizard In My Backyard...namely, the serious lack of filler.  Sixteen tracks fill this album, and of those, one is a dud and three are only kind of okay.  The rest fall in between highly enjoyable (for fans of The Dead Milkmen, that is), and utter classic.  As a matter of fact, of all The Dead Milkmen albums released, Eat Your Paisley! by far has the best ratio of quality songs recorded.  So long as you don't mind your alternative punk upbeat with shades of despair and various non-punk influences thrown in for good measure, Eat Your Paisley! is probably the best place for a newcomer of The Dead Milkmen to start.

Song summaries include...

1. Where The Tarantula Lives - With a more polished sound than Big Lizard In My Backyard, "Where The Tarantula Lives" kicks off Eat Your Paisley! with typical Dead Milkmen flapdoodle lyrics along with some strong harmony and almost a bluegrass style guitar picking.  A
2. Air Crash Museum - One of Dead Milkmen's best less popular songs.  Music is simplistic, lyrics are hilarious, and overall a very easy song to digest.  A
3. KKSuck2 - Not bad for a mellow instrumental, especially when you take into consideration it's 1:51 length.  Seems strange to put a song like this towards the beginning of a sixteen track album, and would probably be better suited as an interlude or outro.  C+
4. Fifty Things - Very cool, sanguine song with one of the best bass lines by The Dead Milkmen.  A-
5. Happy Is - I understand this is a joke song and all, but with the exception of the chorus, this is just too damn happy for my liking.  Plus it's wedged in between two classics.  C
6. Beach Party Vietnam - The Dead Milkmen's absolute best.  Forget about "Punk Rock Girl".  A+
7. I Hear Your Name - For The Dead Milkmen, this is about as straight and serious as it gets (although that's not saying much).  Cool little surf influenced, light and euphonic ditty.  Takes some time to grow on you, though.  B+
8. Two Feet Off The Ground - As funky as it is mellow, it's quite the relaxing song with the exception of the chorus which progressively gets more spirited as it goes.  A-
9. The Thing That Only Eats Hippies - Another classic, although the ridiculous lyrics overshadow the stripped down music.  Might have been cooler if they could have given it more of a 60's groove, but certainly not too bad.  B+
10. Six Days - Almost too generically alternative for The Dead Milkmen, and even though the lack of quality bass is a downer, the alacrity and melody makes up for it.  B
11. Swampland Of Desire - Feels as though the guitar is uncomfortable playing with the bass and drums.  Even the lyrics on this one are sub-par.  C-
12. Take Me Apart - Typical merry Dead Milkmen, but the chorus is painfully childish in a bathetic sappy way.  Eh.  C-
13. Earwig - Another mellow one with a choleric chorus and ludicrous lyrics.  Nice to hear just Rodney Anonymous by himself on a mellow song.  B-
14. Moron - Another of The Dead Milkmen's best.  Typical Dead Milkmen sound with implausible bass and surprisingly fast vocals by Rodney Anonymous.  As it turns out, Billy Joel has nothing on these guys.  A
15. The Fez - What the hell?  Slow, dying music accompanied by droning, abrasive vocals for over five minutes.  Stoner nonsense trash.  D-
16. Vince Lombardi Service Center - Awesome, upbeat instrumental to end things on a good note.  A little repetitious, but after listening to "The Fez", who cares?  A-

Shev's Rating:  A

Also be sure to read:
The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard In My Backyard by Shev
The Dead Milkmen - Bucky Fellini by Shev
The Dead Milkmen - Now We Are 20 Quick Review by Shev
Hunger Artists - Cruisin' In Zargon Quick Review by Shev