Anthology

To say that Oingo Boingo is an eclectic and strange band is to say the same thing of Devo, except that Oingo Boingo might just take the weird cake and do unspeakable things to it. Anthology is two-disc’s worth of twitchy, nervy ska/New Wave music as envisioned by Danny Elfman. It is the complete picture, with every album represented, and every variation given a full display. The first disc opens with a sing-songy invitation to join them in the graveyard, if that isn’t a big enough warning of the weirdness to come, we must be very good friends. By the time we get to “Little Girls,” you realize you’re listening to a nervy danceable punk song that only Humbert Humbert could love (and understand). The second disc sags a little in the middle when Oingo Boingo decided that they wanted to be called just Boingo and went for a mid-90s alternative rock sound, dropping the amazing horn section in the process. The live cuts which round out the second disc bring back the horn section and are from one of the band’s well-known Halloween concerts, which makes perfect sense by the time you’ve gotten through both discs. Oh, and it features a live version of a song about insects infesting your head. Which is really just another day in the Oingo Boingo world. DOWNLOAD: “Little Girls,” “Only a Lad,” “Insects (live),” “Dead Man's Party”