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All Music Guide review "How Freedom Sounds"
At first glance, the comedy duo Red State Update may look like a Blue Collar Comedy Tour ripoff, but they're the darlings of progressive online magazine Salon.com and on the buddy list of "those liberal nonproliferationists" CNN. Thanks to their video submission, it was on said cable news network that young bumpkin Dunlap (played by Jonathan Shockley) and the overalled, Uncle Jesse-esque Jackie Broyles (Travis Harmon) got to ask the Democratic presidential hopefuls about Al Gore, drawing a tongue-in-cheek insult from Joe Biden plus an appearance from Mike Gravel on their YouTube channel. A series of videos posted to the video-sharing site earned the two a sizable following, so it isn't much of a surprise that they would strike while the iron is hot and get to cashing in. What is a surprise is how their debut CD satisfies with hilarious novelty songs being added to the act alongside their usual commentaries. Here Jackie and Dunlap skillfully execute their layered, ironic style, which is Stephen Colbert meets Kinky Friedman on the set of Hee Haw. There's jibber-jabbering about the Bonnaroo-bound hippies who pass through Jackie's store in Tennessee and impressions of various celebrities fishing their wristwatches out of clogged garbage disposals, including Peter Ustinov and Michael Douglas "of Jewel of the Nile fame." While these down-home exchanges are just as entertaining as their videos, the wonderful songs are what make the CD so easy to recommend. The cowardly rave-up "Iraq (I Don't Wanna Go)" features the great "Two things in Iraq you'll never find/WMDs and my behind" plus the sage advice that "Iraqi porn is awful." "Noodles, Powder, Water & Meat" is Jackie's moving ode to "hamburger dinner in a box," and Dunlap's quest for that ever so rare "Stripper Without a Kid" shouldn't be missed. Well-rounded with amusing talk and belly-laugh songs, How Freedom Sounds is an essential album for fans of kickass political commentary or anyone who quits his job once Talladega time rolls around.
David Jeffries, All Music Guide
VOLuntarily Coservative's review
Because I am "Red State - all the way!" as Dunlap likes to call those of us who can't get enough of Jackie and Dunlap, I was privileged enough to get my hands on a copy of "How Freedom Sounds" a week ago. I have been listening to it nonstop since it arrived, and I have the following review for your listening pleasure:
OVERALL REVIEW (Scale of 1 to 10): 7.9
"How Freedom Sounds" is not what I expected. There are more comedic routines (as with their YouTube bits that I routinely embed here at VOLCon) than songs, which creates some funny moments, for sure. However, like reviewer Sharron Cobb, I would have preferred more songs. Why? Because some of the songs are daggone good. Seriously. Of particular note:
* "Red State State of Mind" - An awesome song - the best on the album. Better than anything they play on country radio, for sure. Don't tell anybody, but Jackie has vocal talent.
* "If I Was You" - The classic American drinking song. Like "Red State State of Mind," this is another song that should get some radio play.
* "Get the Hell Outta My Store, Hippie" - A funny song with vocals by Jackie. I'm trying to have our tech guy at the firm rig our alarm to play this song on command, sort of a moonbat prevention alarm. Some of the lyrics - "Pro-choice sticker on her Prius shows/She gets mileage, can't keep her legs closed" - are priceless.
* "Iraq (I Don't Wanna Go)" - Another catchy tune, this one sung by Dunlap. How catchy is it? I've heard Angela singing it around the office the past few days, and she hasn't been in my car much this past week. It's kinda like that Feist song for the IPhones - you can't get this song out of your head.
* "Simple Man" - Jackie's version of this Lynyrd Skynyrd classic is fantastic. However, the rap by Dunlap in the middle - well, Eminem he is not.
This is a fun album, no question. For the second album, I hope for a few more songs (like the classic "Hello, Joe Biden," embedded below with warning for adult language) instead of skits. I highly recommend purchasing it (you can do so at RedStateUpdate.com), because if you don't, the terrorists (and Miley Cyrus) win.
And nobody wants that.
"How Freedom Sounds" review in Knoxville News Sentinel
"HOW FREEDOM SOUNDS," Red State Update (Dualtone)
Moreso than their Northern counterparts, Southern comedians love to make fun of themselves. Sure, New York and Boston comics might take self-effacing jabs, but few humorists from the South can resist mining the sharp caricatures of their region. That works to endear a crowd when it puts the comics at (or below) audience level, though the inevitable idiot-savant shtick can be offputting.
Jackie Broyles and Dunlap of the comic duo Red State Update are sometimes guilty of formula abuse, exaggerating their accents to irritating effect and playing the redneck theme too hard. Yet the two also show more brilliance in both their performance and material than might be expected from successors to the likes of Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy.
The Murfreesboro, Tenn., act got into the comedy game in 21st century fashion - via political-humor videos for YouTube and MySpace and appearances on CNN. Yet the deceptively titled "How Freedom Sounds" only rarely addresses politics. Instead, the song "Iraq (I Don't Wanna Go)" (one of more than a half dozen songs) isn't about the war, it's about the duo's steadfast refusal to put themselves in harm's way. And "Illegal Immigration" is mainly about Jackie's fondness for such food as "Mexican salad" (taco salad) and "Mexican hot ketchup" (salsa).
Elsewhere, the hedonistic Dunlap espouses the joys of trucking ("You can take speed, and it's OK" and you can "crush the spirit of children by refusin' to blow the horn"), and store-owner Jackie rails at Bonnaroo-goers on the riotous "Get the Hell Outta My Store Hippie," There are also bits on crashing funerals for the free food, a futile quest for any stripper who doesn't have kids, a future where Dunlap's kids "will live in space … Muslim space" and a mind-tripping "Noodles, Powder, Water & Meat" that veers into surreal death-metal territory.
Still, blue-state folks might dismiss "How Freedom Sounds" based solely on the cover and title. And that's the danger of stereotyping.
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