Originally published in Verbicide issue #4

Atom and his world famous Package came back stronger than ever with Redefining Music, his newest album, and his first on Hopeless Records. My first observation is that I’m glad this wasn’t on vinyl. I’ve listened to it so many times by now, I would’ve ruined a record. Not to mention that an album hasn’t been appreciated until it’s road tested, and they haven’t made an automobile record player yet.

It’s really great, and a milestone for Atom, I think. The humor is still there; “Undercover Funny” will make you laugh, and so will “Shopping Spree,” but for the most part, every song on this album is touching in a very warm way, like a bottle of Southern Comfort without the strange stomach cramps the next day.

Atom even manages to hit politics in a serious way with “Anarchy Means I Litter,” and “If You Own the Washington Redskins, You’re A Cock,” a song that will either become your anthem or annoy you, but either way is too catchy to avoid learning the words. My favorite of the more heartfelt tracks are “For Franklin,” “Before My Friends Do,” and “Atari Track and Field,” which features some vocalizing by Aliza Rabinowitz, whose voice is so pretty she should sing with Atom more often.

Like early Beatle albums, almost a third of the album is by someone else, but, if Atom’s goal is “to supersede the Beatles” then he’s on the right track. Atom’s renditions of the Mountain Goats, especially “Going to Georgia,” make me want to go check that band out, too. Also on this album is Madonna’s “Open Your Heart,” which in Atom’s and the Package’s respective surreal hands surpasses The Police’s “I’ll Be Watching You” as the freakiest stalking song around.

I’ve been listening to this album for two days. Best two days of my life. Period.

(Hopeless Records, PO Box 7495, Van Nuys, CA 91409)