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Neil Innes|How Sweet to Be an Idiot (Expanded)

How Sweet to Be an Idiot (Expanded)

Neil Innes

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Neil Innes' first solo album is split between tongue-in-cheek parody and straight pop songs akin to the sort of things he did with his first post-Bonzos project, the World. Sometimes the line between the two is imperceptible, as in the Roy Wood-like '50s pastiche "Momma B." However, as in Innes' best Bonzo Dog Band material, even the sillest songs on How Sweet to Be an Idiot, "Topless-A-Go-Go" and the title track, which later became a standard of Innes' stage performances with Monty Python, are solidly melodic Beatlesque pop. Recorded in between albums by Innes' primary project at the time, the rock and poetry supergroup GRIMMS, the album features that group's Andy Roberts, as well as Ollie Halsall, who would become Innes' musical partner in the Rutles half of a decade later, playing bass and singing the Dirk McQuickly parts that Eric Idle would mime to in the All You Need Is Cash film. The playing, as expected, is terrific, but as with many albums of the mid-'70s, there's an unfortunate sterility to Innes' self-production. Everything is just slightly too clean and precise. There are times when this is effective, especially on straight pop songs like "Dream," "Song for Yvonne," and especially the Wings-like "This Love of Ours," but a little of the anarchist spirit of the Bonzos would go a long way.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo

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How Sweet to Be an Idiot (Expanded)

Neil Innes

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1
Prologue
00:00:51

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

2
Momma Bee
00:02:54

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

3
Immortal Invisible
00:04:12

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

4
Topless-A-Go-Go
00:04:04

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

5
Feel No Shame
00:06:25

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

6
How Sweet to Be an Idiot
00:02:51

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

7
Dream
00:03:07

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

8
L'amour Perdu
00:02:17

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

9
Song for Yvonne
00:02:57

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

10
This Love of Ours
00:03:04

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

11
Singing a Song Is Easy
00:05:04

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

12
Slush
00:02:14

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

13
Music from Rawlinson End
00:03:03

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

14
How Sweet to Be an Idiot (Single Edit)
00:02:52

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

15
Age of Desperation
00:02:34

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

16
Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues
00:03:33

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

17
Fluff On the Needle
00:05:36

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

18
Lie Down and Be Counted
00:03:09

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

19
Bandwagon
00:04:32

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

20
What Noise Annoys a Noisy Oyster
00:02:51

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

21
Oo-Chuck-A-Mao-Mao
00:03:34

Neil Innes, Composer, MainArtist

2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group 2020 Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group

Album review

Neil Innes' first solo album is split between tongue-in-cheek parody and straight pop songs akin to the sort of things he did with his first post-Bonzos project, the World. Sometimes the line between the two is imperceptible, as in the Roy Wood-like '50s pastiche "Momma B." However, as in Innes' best Bonzo Dog Band material, even the sillest songs on How Sweet to Be an Idiot, "Topless-A-Go-Go" and the title track, which later became a standard of Innes' stage performances with Monty Python, are solidly melodic Beatlesque pop. Recorded in between albums by Innes' primary project at the time, the rock and poetry supergroup GRIMMS, the album features that group's Andy Roberts, as well as Ollie Halsall, who would become Innes' musical partner in the Rutles half of a decade later, playing bass and singing the Dirk McQuickly parts that Eric Idle would mime to in the All You Need Is Cash film. The playing, as expected, is terrific, but as with many albums of the mid-'70s, there's an unfortunate sterility to Innes' self-production. Everything is just slightly too clean and precise. There are times when this is effective, especially on straight pop songs like "Dream," "Song for Yvonne," and especially the Wings-like "This Love of Ours," but a little of the anarchist spirit of the Bonzos would go a long way.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo

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