The Real Twang Thang

by Tim Wilson

Overview

Since Tim Wilson has not made a comedy album of all-new material in more than three years (meanwhile putting out a hits collection and an all-music set), you'd think he would have had time to come up with a disc's worth of fresh material. But The Real Twang Thang suggests he should have taken much longer. The usual comic Wilson persona is present here, of course, as he expounds from a red-state reactionary political viewpoint, while dipping into sexism, racism, homophobia, and religious intolerance. Usually, however, he isn't even interesting enough to be offensive; "Terrorists," for example, manages to be both tasteless and dated. (For all that, he remains curiously prim about his language, at least on disc, conscientiously bleeping out all curse words, no doubt in the hopes of achieving morning "zoo" radio play.) But what is not usual is that he is so rarely funny. He seems to have lost interest in standup work; only six tracks out of 21 are spoken-word commentaries rather than songs, and even when he's talking, he strums a guitar occasionally and plays bits of songs to illustrate his points. Clearly, he'd rather be singing than talking. When he does speak, he spends much of his time criticizing members of the audience (one track is called "Messing with the Crowd," although all of the standup tracks could be called that). He insults young people and bores them with reminiscences about what it was like for him growing up in the days before car seats and safety helmets, when he watched Bonanza on TV. You can hear people laughing here and there, but there is actually little or no humor in his commentaries. The talking, however, is still much better than the singing. Musically pedestrian and indifferently performed, the songs tend to be one-joke efforts, if that. By the end of the disc, few of them are running more than a minute in length. The Real Twang Thang sounds like Tim Wilson's leftovers, material cut from standup routines and recording sessions because it wasn't worth including on earlier albums. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	01/25/2005
Label:	Capitol Nashville / Capitol
UPC:	0724356041820

Tracks

1. I Think My Wife Is Running Around on Me (Taco Hell)
2. Messing With the Crowd
3. The Michael Vick Song
4. Church League Softball Fist Fight
5. Pissed Copalians
6. Jack Ass: The Movie
7. One Idiot Away
8. Youngsters
9. Tiffany
10. Terrorists
11. Beetle Bailey
12. The American Band Can't Stand
13. The History of Rock
14. Bonanza
15. Dick Weasel, Attorney-At-Law
16. Lap-Dancing Days
17. Mr. Men's Room
18. Haunt Me a Waffle House
19. Pushy on the Brain
20. Ass Bags
21. Tammy & Randy

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tim Wilson   Primary Artist
Jimmy Hally   Vocals (Background),Saxophone
Owen Hale   Drums
David Hood   Bass
Dean Daughtry   Organ,Piano,Piano (Electric)
Jim Keeling   Drums,Percussion
Justin Senker   Bass,Cello
Sean Burke   Drums
Steve Patrick   Trumpet
Larry Byrom   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Jim Lightman   Bass,Shadara
Timothy "Andre" Wilson   Organ,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Steve "Clean" Stone   Guitar (Electric)
Jimmy Deese   Bass

Technical Credits

Tim Wilson   Composer
Allen Collins   Composer
Steve Melton   Mixing,Engineer
Irving Mills   Composer
Jesse Deese   Mixing,Engineer
Chuck Berry   Composer
J.D. Souther   Composer
Cliff Friend   Composer
Don Henley   Composer
Joe Rogers   Design
Michelle Hall   Art Direction
Michael Teaney   Assistant Engineer
Glenn Frey   Composer
Jim Lightman   Editing,Engineer
Ronnie Van Zant   Composer
Benny Quinn   Mastering
Doug Erb   Illustrations
Joanna Carter   Art Direction
Timothy "Andre" Wilson   Producer
Jeremy Davis   Assistant Engineer
Danny Simpson   Composer,Associate Producer
Denise Jarvis   Art Producer
Kevin Knapke   Assistant Engineer