SOUTH PARK - Chef Aid
(american)
Release Date:
Review: Mark Woodlief
(December 22, 1998)
It is one of the great irritations of my life that my family-values cable provider decided two years ago to replace Comedy Central with some lame Animal Planet station. Look, there are ample opportunites to watch Lassie re-runs and nature documentaries; Dammit, I want Craig Kilbourne and The Daily Show; I want the revolutionary, irreverent violence of South Park. At least they (South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone) made a record. And it's not a bad record, at that, considering Stone (drums, bass) and Parker (keyboards) actually play on and wrote a handful of the songs. Thankfully, they recruited an all-star cast: Rancid, Devo, Perry Farrell, Master P, Rage's Tom Morello, Rick James, Meat Loaf, Primus, Joe Strummer, Ozzy Osbourne, Ween, Lil' Kim, Wyclef Jean, Puff Daddy, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Mase and many others, including of course, Isaac Hayes as Chef.
The record may not get any funnier than Eric Cartman's spastic version of Styx's "Come Sail Away" or Ned Gerblansky's gurgling take on "Feel Like Makin' Love," but Master P's re-write of Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead" (of course, "Kenny's Dead") is top-notch, too. Chef is expectedly nasty, with cuts like "Chocolate Salty Balls," a lusty appreciation of Kathie Lee Gifford ("No Substitute") and "Simultaneous," an ode to threesomes and orgies. Other standouts: Mousse T. and Hot 'n' Juicy's trampy "Horny," Devo's jerky "Huboon Stomp," Ween's gay-pride anthem, "The Rainbow." Every opportunity was present to cynically cash in on the TV show's phenomenal success with a cheap knockoff, but all involved managed to produce a solid, hilarious and dirty compilation album (no easy feat in itself; check out most movie soundtracks from the past year) that makes cool references to the show and stands on its own as well.
Next
Review
Mediator Index
