Review Summary: Although not one of Oingo Boingo's strongest releases, there is still plenty of excellent music to be found in "Good For Your Soul"
One of the group's least acknowledged works (and, currently, their hardest to find, selling upwards from $70),
Good For Your Soul features
Oingo Boingo in top form. Released during their New Wave/ska-influenced period, the album's subjects focus on subjects ranging from social chameleonism to conformation to what is considered "normal".
The fast-paced "Who Do You Want To Be" opens the album, focusing on individuals who, not having an identity of their own, choose imitation ("Who do you want to be today? / Do you want to be just like someone on T.V.?"), fast horns and percussion running throughout. The band slows things down a bit for the moody, keyboard-based "Good for Your Soul", followed by "No Spill Blood", a mid-paced musical retelling of
The Island of Dr. Moreau. Percussion and distorted vocal chanting in full force opens "Cry of the Vatos", making way for horns and a backwards verse poking fun at the claims of Satanic messages in rock and roll. Horn arrangements and accordion chords accent the ska-based "Fill the Void", telling a tale of fantasy and harsh reality.
"Sweat" is an excellent New Wave-based track dealing with pressure. Fast percussion, horn arrangements and an excellent saxophone solo. Electronic percussion and synthesizer arrangements accent "Nothing Bad Ever Happens", written around a person who does not care about the world around him. Guitar arrangements, horn and synthesizer breaks back the Orwell-based "Wake up (It's 1984)". Hi-hats claps and percussion come in heavily on "Dead or Alive", accented by synthesizers and horn breaks. Synthesizers, breaks and claps accent "Pictures of You", with flanged backing vocals. Wonky synths and horn arrangements accent "Little Guns" .
Good For Your Soul features some fun Oingo Boingo tracks, but, overall, it is not one of their best releases. Although energetic throughout, and even though the weaker tracks are quite entertaining, it comes off better when listening to individual tracks every once in a while rather than trying to listen to the album as a whole. Still, there's lots of great material to be found here, and you definitely don't want to miss out on this one if you're a fan.
