Album Review: White People and the Damage Done by Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine

First of all, let me just give a shout out to Alternative Tentacles on this one! The album, as I understand it, is set for official release on April 2nd. Yet, I got mine and have been listening to it for a week or so, and I had ordered it maybe a week or so before that. So, this was a really fast delivery, and I am pleased to finally be able to review an album before it actually comes out! That's something new for me!

Listening to this album, one can't help but recall some of the works that Jello once did with his original group. There are quite a few points in this album that really remind the listener of the days of the Dead Kennedys. Both the music, and Jello's voice, sound reminiscent of a much earlier era in his career - a return to form, if you will. Particularly, from the second track, "John Dillinger", to the eighth track, "Crapture", you would be excused if, upon the first listen, thought that perhaps this was some old DK stuff that somehow had not been released before. Of course, if you examine the lyrical content more closely, you will see that they are very specific to our times, and not decades ago.

Hell, even the lyrics seem more in that outright, aggressively in your face political style that he used to be so well known for, than in the more reflective, and personal, than some of the more recent works with the Melvins, and on earlier releases with his new group, the Guantanamo School of Medicine. Not that Jello is not a political animal (or perhaps, rather, an anti-political animal is a better way of saying it), he is. But lately, it seemed it was more saved for his spoken word material, rather than the music.

But he returns closer to the form of the earlier works from the Dead Kennedys days in this album, both in terms of lyrical content, as well, even, as in his singing style.
Hard to believe that was three decades ago now.          

But yes, this is a throwback album of sorts towards an earlier style of music, as well as lyrics. The music has a more raw quality and power to it than some of Jello's more recent offerings.            

The lyrics are purely political., more pointed, and probably far less reflective and personal than much of Jello's more recent albums with the Guantanamo School of Medicine, and with the Melvins prior to that. Of course, these times call for that, almost beg for it.          

It can be seen as a departure of sorts from some of the more recent Jello-associated albums and projects, in that regard. Or, perhaps, it an be seen as a return to form. Either way you look at it, it sounds good.          

Yet, there are parts where it is reminiscent of Jello's work with the country music styled album that he did with Mojo Nixon.



Image by: hangout.altsounds.com

In "Brown Lipstick Parade" (you get the picture of what this song implies by the title, don't you?), Jello effectively summarizes what he thinks of the differences between to two major parties:

Republicans stand for- 
Greed, corruption, bigotry and war
While Democrats 
Pretend to feel guilty about
Greed, corruption, bigotry and war
And don't forget pollution

He then goes on to elaborate:

Filibustering elephants
Rubber-stamping donkey acts
Clueless raging dinosaurs
Called corrupt-a-saurus Wrecks

In effect, he sums it up the American political reality with these lyrics:

Mr. Smith goes to Washington
Not to serve, but to Ca$h in

The title track of the album relates how the consumption of traditionally wealthier societies (that's us in the West) have gotten rich off the rest of the world:

We'd all be more secure
If the rest of the world
Ain't treated like slaves
So we can buy cheap things

He warns that this kind of experimentation will inevitably lead to our society's decline:

Fall of Rome
Wasn't built in a day
This is how it got that way
When everything the experts touch
Turn into the Titanic

"John Dillinger" is the first clue that this album sounds different than the other recent works that Jello has been involved with. It sounds like Jello's work from the eighties, rather than from recent years. He uses the celebrated John Dillinger as the symbol for what is wrong with our celebrity-obsessed culture (more on this later on in the album). Dillinger was, of course, a famed bank robber and "bad guy", who captured the imaginations of people during hard times. Jello takes aim at this, as the lyrics show:

A magnet for the masses 
In movies, news and song
So why'd they brand him
Public Enemy #1?

To keep people's minds
Off the Great Depression
And who should really hang
For causing the whole thing.

His point should be clear at this point. But just in case there is any ambiguity left, he concludes the sing with this:

Throw the book at small-time crooks
While Goldman-Sachs Made walks
And the Bernies Made off
With the Stimulus
-And more

In "Werewolves of Wall Street", Biafra rails against corporate corruption, and warns that "wealth addiction" (which he mentioned prominently in an earlier Alternative Tentacles release - the No WTO Combo's "Live From the Battle in Seattle"), and how banks essentially have, in many respects, grown more powerful than nations, and have them, and their citizens, on their knees and at their mercy.

Of all the songs on this album, "Road Rage" is the song that really reminds me the most of the old DK days. In particular, it reminds me, for whatever reason, of Buzzbomb from Pasadena. They are both about "road rage", in one form or other. Jello's voice sounds like the Jello of old, and the lyrics could have been written from those old days of yore, as well:

I hate my wife
I hate my kids
I hate my job
I hate this town
I hate my cable bills

And later:

I get flustered every day
Off my meds and off the rails
Since my insurance went away

I hate the homeless
I hate my home    

Another familiar theme with Jello is his pointing out how the focus of the media lens tends to be on celebrities, and he is obviously less than thrilled at the voracious appetite in our culture for juicy tidbits all about celebrities. In "Hollywood Goof Disease", he talks about this unfortunate tendency, which detracts from the attention that obviously should be paid to weightier matters that actually affect the lives of us all:

More bad news for all to see
Funny how it never reaches me
Cartoon scandals tweak my eyes
Like Christians to the lions-
Let them eat celebrities!

Jello's lyrics get rather violent in this song, as well:

Glamourize the overpaid
Each in need of a grenade

And later:

Well hey! Look at me!
But why won't they leave me alone?
Drugs & paparazzi
A victim all the time
Instead of God shopping and rehab
Why don't you just die?

For fans who have followed Jello over the years, "Burgers of Wrath" will be familiar. it is his new band's take on a song that Jello previously released in the album that he did with Mojo Nixon. It sounded folksy back then, and this one is spiked with a bit more of a hardcore feel. Yet, it retains a bit of that older feel, and is probably the most unique song that his new band has done. There is another version later in the album, which has a "slight rural extension" added. The finals four tracks are different takes on songs already on the album, and the band seems to be experimenting musically a bit here.

But before all of that, there is the tenth and final track (before the four track "Bonus Entrails" that I just mentioned). In the longest song on the album, "Shock-U-Py!", Jello goes back to earlier days in American history:

Once upon a time 
There was a Great Depression
Once upon a time
There was a president named Franlin
When he first got in
A labor leader or two said "Yo!
Frankie baby, listen up!
These are our demands"...

And FDR said,
"I want to do it
Now make me do it."
And the people made them do it
Yeah!

But clearly, times have changed, and all those hard earned gains are starting to fade away in the new political reality and corporate vulture culture that prevail nowadays. But with the "Occupy" movement, Jello sees hope, and he not only thanks them, but also advises people on how to sustain it:

We can't be here all the time
'Kuz the change we want
Will take a long time
So tag-team like wrestling,
Re-charge
Flush the burn-out,
come back strong

He goes on, with more words that he expressed on the No WTO Combo release, before essentially preparing young Occupy activists for what they can expect, if they want to keep their activism, and integrity, intact for the future:

A prank away
keeps the dog leash away

Five years from now
Ten years from now
Remember who you are
No matter where
We all wind up
There's ways to fight the power

Won't have so much money
But we got our self-respect
Your kids might even like you
And you'll save on psych-meds



Image by: coretexrecords.com

All in all, I would say that this was an enjoyable album that should satisfy fans of Jello, and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. As I said before, I have now been listening to this album for about a week, and can honestly say that I am glad that this album became part of my listening rotation, if you will, for 2013. A new album featuring Jello at his best, in a form that is very reminiscent of him as a young firebrand for that other punk band that he headed for a very long time. This one was a real pleasure to listen to, as well as to study the lyrics. This is Jello at his best.        

There's always room for Jello!          






This is an excellent review on the new album, and also delves into Jello Biafra and some of the works and activities in his past. A fascinating read, and I will be using it again for the blog on Jello Biafra (aside from this specific album) that I intend to publish in the near future:

http://www.examiner.com/article/jello-biafra-to-release-new-album