ALBUM REVIEW

The Notorious A.I.G.

Life After Debt

I don’t know what they want from A.I.G.

It’s like the more bonuses we come across

The more taxes we see 

– “Mo Bailouts Mo Problems”

The Notorious A.I.G., also known as Too Biggie to Fail, released this CD as a follow-up to Ready to Suffer a Liquidity Crisis.

Intended to inspire a truce in the Wall Street vs. Main Street wars, Life After Debt actually inflamed tensions and led to the Notorious A.I.G., tragically, giving back its bonuses.

The bone-chilling practitioner of gyp-hop delivers stark numbers including “Somebody’s Credit Rating’s Gotta Die,” “Nationalize” and “$122.8 Billion’s the Limit.”

“My Downturn” showcases the artist’s controversial mission statement: “We don’t give a fuck about how much it takes to bail us, or nail us, or jail us – we gon’ keep doin’ our motherfuckin’ thing from now ’til the bitches in Treasury fail us.”

Although most tracks here were produced in-house, some were overseen by outside producers, including G. Sachs and Société “Puffy” Générale.

The hard lessons of gangsta accounting, although depicted here in excruciating, painful detail, are not likely to be learned anytime soon. Meanwhile the Notorious A.I.G. leaves us unsettled with a haunting finale, “You’re Nobody (’Til Somebody Bails You).”

– Dr. Lester S. Carboni

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The Recalls

I see you driving down the street

In your car or truck

Your brakes don’t work

Your gas pedal is stu - uh uh, uh - uck

Here it comes again

Unwanted acceleration under the starry skies

Here it comes again

The CEO’s going to apologize

My best friend’s Toyotas

My best friend’s Toyotas

My best friend’s Toyotas

They used to not suck

(The gas pedal’s still…stuck)

– “My Best Friend’s Toyotas”

The Recalls are a new hybrid of two new automotive genres, Japanese decline and American malaise. Whereas previous artists such as Chuck Berry and Bruce Springsteen celebrated the romance of the automobile and the call of the open road, the Recalls sing of faulty electronics systems and sticky floor mats.

Songs include “Let the Complaints Roll,” “Bye Bye Lexus,” “You’re All I’ve Killed Tonight,” “Just What I Bleeded” and “I’m in Touch With Your Customer Relations Department.”

This is the Recalls’ first CD and also their last, because all CDs have been recalled as well as the Recalls themselves.

A spokesman for the group said, “You have my personal commitment that we will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of the people we have the most contempt for. I mean, our customers.”

– Dr. Lester S. Carboni

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