Total Entertainment

This a a very fun C.D. that like the title promises delivers Total Entertainment. Like the other reviewer I had the opportuity to hear the material from this album played live and the crowd loved the new material as much as the old. What does need to be said though is that Pansy Division's C.D.S do not capture the incredible energy of the band in a live setting. Never the less, Tracks like "No Protection" and "He whipped my ass in tennis..." and the secret bonus track, are classic Pansy Division, conveying both a sense of humor and liberation that are hallmarks of the band.

They are English and they are proud of their explicitness about their sexual orientation they carry and exhibit in their very band name. This CD enjoys taking simple situations and turning them sexy first and then lurid and sexual. Their tennis competition, or is it tennis confrontation or is it tennis courtship strategy, who cares, is hilarious in the shortcut from the court to the bed. The only thing is that the other with his muscular thighs will beat him severely in tennis and then after that the winner will be severely dominated in bed. Super. That's pure and total entertainment. Track 15 should be 2 minutes or so but is more than five on my CD, with a three minutes' blank. But track sixteen that is not listed on the back sleeve is more than ten minutes long. It is the cherry on top of the iced cake. The music is some quite standard and dynamic rock that forces you to get on your feet but it does not have a particular orientation, I mean musical orientation this time, dance, metal, punk, rap or whatever. Music for everyone but with explicit words about gay attitude and gay orientation and gay pleasure hunting. If you are not tolerant about that, you better forget about it. Just sing with them: "Too many hoops to jump through for me to try to get to you".

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

Been listening to their albums and traveling to Pansy Division's concerts for 11 years now. Brought this CD, Total Entertainment within days of its release. And after 4 months of on and off listening, I have decided: No songs from this CD will be burned to a CD of favorites. At the recent concert in Atlanta, the new stuff got played, but what excited the crowd, (all 30 of us), was the older music. If Jon Ginoli hadn't announced it at the start of the concert, I doubt anyone there knew that the theme of Total Entertainment was 'sports'. The high energy and fun found on the first 6 albums is missing from this album.

I have been a fan since 1992 when I first heard Surrender Your Clothing on Undressed. Since their first release, Pansy Division has been out front announcing load and clear that their music was Rock, Roll, and Queer ("With loud guitars, we're gay and proud" from ANTHEM (sic). The liner notes from early on included not just the lyrics, but advice on how to use a condom. The songs were about being gay, the pain and the joy. Even the 'cover songs' were great fun to listen to because of the Pansy Division spin. ("Against all odds, we appear. Grew up brainwashed, but turned out queer" from Smells Like Queer Spirit.

Reading the lyrics of the songs from Total Entertainment I see the same constant issues dealt with on the other 6 albums. The problem is discovered in the listening. It all sounds over-produced and that sucks the life out of this album. Total Entertainment sounds like the last album from a band rushing towards retirement.

Don't waste money on this album, but buy all 6 of the other albums.: Undressed, Deflowered, Pile Up, Wish I'd Taken Pictures, More Lovin' From Our Oven, and Absurd Pop Song Romance. All have better music and much better album artwork. All these have songs you will want to add to your favorite listening music, unlike this dead Total Entertainment.

My Mistake: It took 7 years, but I have found that Total Entertainment does have songs worth recording to ny favorite listening CD. In particular, the song that changed my mind was Sleeping in the Cold which requiring max'ng the volume to understand the words of the song because as I stated in 2003, the CD suffers from overproduction. And yes, I can recommend spending money for this CD.