Track Listing

1. Origin of Love - Rufus Wainwright
2. Angry Inch - Fred Schneider, Sleater-Kinney
3. Long Grift - They Might Be Giants
4. Sugar Daddy
5. City of Women - Robyn Hitchcock
6. Freaks - Imperial Teen
7. Wicked Little Town [Hedwig Version] - The Breeders
8. Nailed [Loudbomb Mix] - Bob Mould
9. Wig in a Box - The Polyphonic Spree
10. Milford Lake - John Cameron Mitchell, Stephen Trask
11. Ladies & Gentlemen - Stephen Colbert
12. Tear Me Down
13. Hedwig's Lament/Exquisite Corpse - Yoko Ono, Yo La Tengo
14. Wicked Little Town [Tommy Gnosis Version] - Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, Ben Lee
15. Midnight Radio - Cyndi Lauper,
16. Origin of Love (Reprise) - Jonathan Richman

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116591 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Long Story Short
OK, so if you're a full-on fan of either the stage show or the movie, you probably don't care about any review; You're going to buy this album anyway. I know my first response on hearing of this album's existence was "Must have now!". The idea of Ben Folds doing a cover of Wicked Little Town is something to drool over, and the Polyphonic Spree have just the right exuberance to lift the sing-a-long Wig In A Box up to the sunshine-filled skies... so you'd think. But I have to admit, I found this hit and miss, with both of these songs just a tad disappointing (Wicked Little Town could have been truly superb stripped down to just piano and voice, but it comes across as a little too busy to my mind, while Wig In A Box just doesn't quite go stratospheric in that trademark Polyphonic Spree way). Sure, there are some small sparkly gems in here, like The Breeders' version of Wicked Little Town or Frank Black's psychobilly Sugar Daddy. The two Origin Of Love's work well, and Spoon's Tear Me Down has a great Bowiesque vocal. Even Cyndi Lauper's Midnight Radio has a sort of wacky majesty that works. But there's also a fair bit of dross here. The dancy remixed Freaks and Nailed leave me dead cold. That may just be personal taste though; the main problem is that songs that should grab you just, well, don't. Much as I like They Might Be Giants, they don't seem to bring anything distinctly theirs to The Long Grift, and the new songs - Milford Lake and City Of Women - aren't nearly as memorable as the songs from the show. The Yoko Ono version of Exquisite Corpse, as flat emotionally as it is musically, has to be the low point of the album. Makes Nico sound good. Sorry, but this is a fire-fuelled punk rock song with a nervous breakdown at the climax, fer cryin out loud, and Yoko's ho-hum delivery renders it as lacklustre as a builder with depression on a tea break whose soggy digestive just collapsed into his cup. In contrast, the Angry Inch by Fred Schneider and Sleater-Kinney shows the way it should be done, kicking it out with a sound that's true to the original and true to the '70's punk that inspired it (and a little reminiscent of the modern take on that sound coming out of bands like the Distillers or the Yeah Yeah Yeah's). Less Nico. More Karen O. So is the album worth it? Well, it's for a good cause and there's enough good stuff on here to merit a listen. I wouldn't say don't buy it. Just don't expect too much.

Yeah but...
It's got Stephen Colbert singing on it!!! What more could anyone want? For me it's worth it for him alone! Tho' would've loved to have heard him sing "Wicked Little Town" as he has such a lovley crooning voice!!!