So-Lo
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So-Lo is the fourth album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo. It was released under frontman Danny Elfman's name.
Background
The album was released under Elfman's name instead of Oingo Boingo's in order to circumvent a dispute with the band's record label. Elfman stated that he used the opportunity to record previously unreleased material, starting to move away from the band's original sound, describing it as "a chance to experiment with slower tempos."[1] It was the band's final album recorded with bass player Kerry Hatch and keyboardist Richard Gibbs, although bass guitar and keyboard synths only feature on a few tracks, in favor of sequencers.
Music
The album has notably more electronic production than the majority of Elfman's work under the name Oingo Boingo, although retaining the prominence of Steve Bartek's electric guitar work. It features simpler pop songwriting than the preceding albums Only a Lad, Nothing to Fear and Good for Your Soul, but with multifaceted synth arrangements and similar themes of social commentary running through the album.
Initial releases of the album featured a significantly different mix of the opening song, "Gratitude." The initial mix included alternate backing vocals and rhythm guitar, less use of reverberation and a faded out ending with an additional guitar solo. The single release and accompanying music video used a revised mix of the song, which was subsequently issued on all re-releases of So-Lo. This "short version," as it is known, is an edit of the extended version from the 12-inch single and is actually four seconds longer than the original album mix.
The most significant change from the original mix is the removal of a spoken verse (starting at 1:37), whose complete lyrics are as follows:
I used to eat people like you for breakfast
I used to fly, high up in the sky
I used to chew up rocks and spit out gravel
I had a heart as cold as ice
The original mix of "Gratitude" was also released on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack compilation in 1984.[2] The spoken verse was included in all live performances of the song, sometimes with slightly different lyrics[3][4], and also appears on the re-recorded version of "Gratitude" that was included on the "live in the studio" album Boingo Alive in 1988.
Reissue
In 2014, Varèse Sarabande issued a remastered version of the album on CD with one bonus track, the "single edit" of "Gratitude." It is erroneously referred to as being identical to the version from Beverly Hills Cop, although it is one minute shorter. This CD reissue was remastered at HollywoodTrax by Chas Ferry and, as of 2018, is the only studio album CD by Oingo Boingo to receive a new remaster and additional bonus track.[5]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Danny Elfman
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gratitude" (5:07 on earliest pressings) | 5:11 |
| 2. | "Cool City" | 3:26 |
| 3. | "Go Away" | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Sucker for Mystery" | 5:15 |
| 5. | "It Only Makes Me Laugh" | 4:03 |
| 6. | "The Last Time" | 4:07 |
| 7. | "Tough as Nails" | 4:35 |
| 8. | "Lightning" | 3:44 |
| 9. | "Everybody Needs" | 3:50 |
| Total length: | 38:34 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Gratitude" (Single Edit) | 4:08 |
Personnel
- Danny Elfman – vocals, percussion, programming
- Steve Bartek – guitars, programming
- Rich Gibbs – synthesizers, special DX-7 programming
- Paul Fox – synthesizers
- Kerry Hatch – Bass
- Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez – drums, percussion
- Leon Schneiderman – baritone sax
- Sam Phipps – tenor sax
- Dale Turner – trumpet, trombone
- The liner notes on some versions (including the 2014 CD reissue) list "Special Thanx" to "Michael Flea for his extra bass work[6]"
Notes
- ^ The Elfman Zone - Denver Post Article 1986
- ^ Beverly Hills Cop I 07. Danny Elfman - Gratitude
- ^ Oingo Boingo - Gratitude - Universal Amphitheatre 1993.01.16
- ^ Boingo at The Palace-Gratitude
- ^ https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Elfman-So-Lo/release/6348276
- ^ "Images for Danny Elfman - So-Lo". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-11-02.