Too Much Joy

Too Much Joy almost called this album Don't Worry, Bea Arthur, and if you don't get the
pun – which merges the title of Bobby McFerrin's chipper hit single with the heroine of the
Seventies sitcom Maude – you're probably the wrong age. This quartet from New York's
affluent Westchester County represents a generation of disco babies who've reached their
twenties without producing any notable cultural heroes, unless you count Bret... More >

After a year of sleeping on floors, stealing wives, and expressing solidarity with 2 Live Crew, their music is thicker, tougher, hookier, sometimes even a tad overproduced. And their lyrics are still what it's there for. So smart they have dumb people sniffing about the Dead Milkmen, they have their moments of empathy, social responsibility, self-knowledge, and so forth. But as a sucker for a cheap laugh, I prefer "King of Beers" ("na na na na na na sorrow") and "Long Haired Guys from England" ("i bet in london i could get a date/'cause i'm a short haired guy from the united states"). Both of which are longer on self-knowledge than most dumb people I meet. (Grade: A-)