Band : Mucky Pup
Album Title : A Boy In A Man’s World + Now (re-release)
Label : I Scream Records
Distribution : Sure Shot Worx
Release date : 25/09/2009
Review : CD

In 2009, Mucky Pup reunited to go on tour again. They didn’t record a new album, but I Scream Records decided to re-release Mucky Pup’s second and third studio album, A Boys In A Man’s World (originally from 1989) and Now (originally from 1990), on one CD.

Mucky Pup made their fame combining hardcore and punk rock elements into a crossover, characterized by humorous lyrics. Extensive touring in Europe helped them establish a loyal fan basis. The band from New Jersey, formed in 1985, knew a lot of line-up changes throughout the years. Some of these former members also got well-known because of their participations in other bands. E.g., Dan Nastasi played in the bands Non-Fiction, Murphy’s Law, Dog Eat Dog, Nastasee), bass player Dave Neabore and guitar player Sean Kilkenny also joined Dog Eat Dog. For the Belgians, it is nice to know that the Belgian bass player Marc De Backer also took part in Mucky Pup (and Dog Eat Dog) for a while. The most constant factors in the Mucky Pup line-up were the brothers Chris Milnes (vocals) and John Milnes (drums). To continue the flashback on Mucky Pup’s history, you should know that after “Now” Mucky Pup changed record labels and developed a more serious perspective of making music with less humor. Proof of this was delivered with the albums Act Of Faith (1991), Lemonade (1992) and the final album Five Guys In A Really Hot Garage (1996). Later in 1996, the band broke up.

And so we get back to 2009, where the re-release of A Boys In A Man’s World and Now saw the light and Mucky Pup reunited, with a line-up composed of Chris Milnes, Dan Nastasi, Marc De Backer and Kevin Powers, to perform a European tour. The re-release contains 29 tracks with a playing time of 80 minutes. The highlights of A Boys In A Man’s World still are “U Stink But I Love U”, “Batman”, “Reagan Knew”, “Death By Cholesterol”, the title track, “Little Pigs” (hello Green Jellÿ), “Big Freeze” and the highlights from Now include “Hippies Hate Water”, “Three Dead Gophers” (with a guest appearance by Evan and Billy from Biohazard), “My Hands, Your Neck”, “Hotel Penitentiary”, “Mucky Pumpin’ Beat” and “To Be Lonely”.

Unfortunately, this re-release was not re-mastered and the sound is thereby weak. You really have to turn up the volume if you want to listen to Mucky Pup in a proper way. And how come there is no track-listing on the backside cover of the album? Some background information or liner notes in the accompanying booklet would have been welcome as well, just like some bonus tracks (which is the case with most re-releases). Really unforgivable is the fact that the song “Homosexual” from the album “A Boy In A Man’s World” is excluded on this re-release, with no explanation given at all. Shame, shame, shame!

Latest news of Mucky Pup is that a DVD Mucky Pup Live At Mexicali, filmed on April 11th 2009, is now available. In the USA, Mucky Pup will play a final US show on January 16th 2010 in New Jersey, but in Europe the band continues to tour and they will play at for instance the Graspop festival on June 25th 2010. So, final question: When can we expect a re-release of Mucky Pup’s debut album “Can’t You Take A Joke?”?

70/100

Erik Spruyt.