New Mika CD lovehatelovehateloveit

Mika’s new CD, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, is a conundrum.

Let me begin this brief review with the comment that my shmaltz tolerance level is pretty high, so I happen to be one of those who thinks some glam-pop is pretty cool.  I am, for instance, a huge Queen fan.  I actually like David Bowie and the Scissor Sisters.  If you’re not a fan of the sugary wonderland of campy pop, move along, there’s nothing to see here.

I mention Queen not simply because on Mika’s first CD, Life in Cartoon Motion, one of the tracks (Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)) so expressly evokes Queen’s Fat Bottomed Girls, but also because Mika Pennington, Mika’s lead singer, may very well be the illegitimate offspring of Freddie Mercury, RIP.

Not to cast aspersions on the morals of Mama Pennington, but I can’t help wondering if she was, perhaps, a Queen groupie who got entangled with the singer.  After all, Crazy Little Thing Called Love came out that year.

For your consideration:

15 seconds of Freddie: 

15 seconds of Mika:     

I rest my case.

Rolling Stone panned the first CD, “Life in Cartoon Motion” with this pithy commentary:

On his debut, the Lebanese-born Brit (Mika Penniman) serves up huge, ultraflamboyant razzle-dazzle, often transmitted through pounded piano or his ear-damaging falsetto. Songs like the U.K. hit “Grace Kelly” are plenty catchy, but they pack enough schmaltz and club-you-over-the-head sonics to make Scissor Sisters seem like Joan Freakin’ Baez.

But let’s talk about the new CD. It is, as I said, a conundrum. It has many songs with excellent lyrics, and many songs with catchy melodies. Unfortunately, the overlap between the two is low. As a musician, it is extraordinarily frustrating to listen to. But still, there are moments of genius, when Mika’s disingenuous and playful lyrics ride the wave of their ridiculously catchy hooks.

The lyrics to Toy Boy, the story of a young man’s doll, cast off and relegated to life as a voodoo poppet, had me laughing out loud:

But your mama thought there was somethin’ wrong
Didn’t want you sleeping with a boy too long
It’s a serious thing in a grown-up world
Maybe you’d be better with a Barbie girl

You were that I adored-ya
But you left me in Georgia
Toys are not sentimental
How could I be for rental?

She’s the meanest hag that has ever been
Pulled out my insides with an old safety pin
I’m the sorest sight, now I feel like trash
Clothes are made of rags and they don’t even match

So she dressed me up as the man she loved
Then threw me in a box when she had had enough
Now the light of day I no longer see
She stuck her voodoo pins where my eyes used to be

Accidentally tragic
Victim of her black magic
Had a boy once who loved me
Now he’s so afraid of me

I would say that if you eliminated 4 or 5 of the very worst train wrecks, the resulting album would be one of the top five CDs – and the shortest – released this year. So it is definitely worth a listen, even if you have to cover your ears and go “La la la” during a few of the songs.

Rolling Stone gave this CD a brief review that included the comment, “Producer Greg Wells is an enabler; Mika needs an editor.“   I disagree; the producer is at fault here as well.  Technically the album is amazing: production values are very high, the recording pristine, the sound stage awe inspiring.   It is artistic direction and – as noted – editing – that is so sorely lacking. I mean, the best song on the album is the shortest one! Come on.

So my review winds up being ambivalent.  I am firmly in both camps.  I strongly recommend the album, but only if you have a high pain threshold, because it’s going to hurt.