Boingo Alive

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Boingo Alive is a double live album by Oingo Boingo, released on September 26, 1988. During recordings, the band performed live in a studio with no audience; hence it is not a traditional "live" album. It was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the band's inception. The song selection spans the group's entire discography, as well as including several previously unreleased pieces.

Background

In 1984 Oingo Boingo had moved from A&M Records to MCA Records under dispute, and at the conclusion, A&M retained ownership of Oingo Boingo's first three album masters. Since 1982, the band had found success in licensing their songs to film & TV, but earlier songs could not be licensed without the involvement of A&M. Boingo Alive gave the band an opportunity to re-record songs originally recorded under A&M, which could then be licensed under their arrangement with MCA. Additionally, the 1991 MCA compilation Best O' Boingo was able to present a "career-spanning" track list despite featuring no pre-1984 recordings by including the re-recorded versions of earlier songs such as "Only a Lad" and "Wild Sex (in the Working Class)".

Track listing

Disc 1

CD content

All tracks written and composed by Danny Elfman.

No.	Title	Original release	Length
1.	"Dead Man's Party"	Dead Man's Party (1985)	6:22
2.	"Dead or Alive"	Good for Your Soul (1983)	4:04
3.	"No Spill Blood"	Good for Your Soul (1983)	4:32
4.	"Stay"	Dead Man's Party (1985)	3:57
5.	"Cinderella Undercover"	Originally recorded for Only a Lad (1981) and then BOI-NGO (1987)	4:37
6.	"Home Again"	BOI-NGO (1987)	5:24
7.	"Help Me"	Dead Man's Party (1985)	3:56
8.	"Just Another Day"	Dead Man's Party (1985)	5:07
9.	"It Only Makes Me Laugh"	So-Lo (1984)	3:41
10.	"My Life"	BOI-NGO (1987)	4:46
11.	"Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself)"	Nothing to Fear (1982)	3:48
12.	"Not My Slave"	BOI-NGO (1987)	4:08
13.	"We Close Our Eyes"	BOI-NGO (1987)	3:29
14.	"Elevator Man"	BOI-NGO (1987)	4:26
15.	"Return of the Dead Man" (instrumental)	Previously unreleased	1:46

Disc 2

CD content

All tracks written and composed by Danny Elfman, except for "Violent Love" by Willie Dixon.

No.	Title	Original release	Length
16.	"Winning Side"	Previously unreleased	3:57
17.	"Wild Sex (In the Working Class)"	Nothing to Fear (1982)	4:16
18.	"Grey Matter"	Nothing to Fear (1982)	5:42
19.	"Private Life"	Nothing to Fear (1982)	3:09
20.	"Gratitude"	So-Lo (1984)	4:47
21.	"No One Lives Forever"	Dead Man's Party (1985)	4:06
22.	"Mama"	Released on the box set version BOI-NGO (1987)	4:52
23.	"Capitalism"	Only a Lad (1981)	4:12
24.	"Who Do You Want to Be"	Good for Your Soul (1983)	3:20
25.	"Sweat"	Good for Your Soul (1983)	4:29
26.	"Violent Love"	Oingo Boingo EP (1980)	2:21
27.	"On the Outside"	Only a Lad (1981)	3:43
28.	"Only a Lad"	Only a Lad (1981) / Oingo Boingo EP (1980) / Demo EP (1979)	3:50
29.	"Goodbye, Goodbye"	Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Music from the Motion Picture (1982)	3:32
30.	"Country Sweat"	Country rearrangement of "Sweat"	5:13
31.	"Return of the Dead Man 2" (instrumental)	Previously unreleased	2:40

Personnel

Oingo Boingo

• John Avila – bass, vocals
• Steve Bartek – guitars
• Danny Elfman – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Carl Graves – keyboards, vocals
• Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez – drums, percussion
• Sam Phipps – tenor & soprano saxophones
• Leon Schneiderman – baritone saxophone
• Dale Turner – trumpet, trombone

Additional Musician

• Bruce Fowler – trombone

Inclusions in other media

• The Boingo Alive version of "Who Do You Want to Be" is featured on the soundtrack of the video games Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and Tony Hawk's American Sk8land.
• The Boingo Alive version of "Stay" was used as the theme song of the Brazilian telenovel Top Model, which increased Oingo Boingo's popularity in Brazil.
• The Boingo Alive version of "Home Again" is featured in the movie Home Alone 3.
• Boingo Alive is seen in a scene of the 2007 romantic comedy Knocked Up.