Artist: The King Khan & BBQ Show
Title: The King Khan & BBQ Show aka The Supreme Genius of Mark Sultan*
Label: In the Red (2007 Re-release), Goner (U.S), Hazelwood (Europe)
Year: 2004

1) Waddlin’ Around- 9.8- Classic King Khan! Perfect opener and terrific love song. Truly amazing, soulful vocals from Mark Sultan, just a harbinger of what is to come.

2) Fish Fight- 10- Instant classic! This one is a highly catchy rocker. Great for pogoing and moshing (I can imagine and will get back to you after I see them live!). Great, simple, guitar work

3) Get Down- 9.6- Catchy lyrics, nice, fast paced guitar and drums. Gets me in the mood to “get down.”

4) Hold Me Tight- 9.7- Wow! One word to describe this song: Cool. You could roll down the street picking up some fine looking ladies to this guitar riff…. probably not though, but it gives us hope haha. My favorite part is the “Holdddd Me Tight.” Brings me back to Montrose Elementary School Halloween dances when they played those old ‘Graveyard Smash’ songs. The vocals in that part are extremely reminescent of said tunes. Brought back some great memories.

5) Love You So- 9.9- One of the top tracks on this record and in their entire discography for that matter. It’s another love ballad from the BBQ, Mark Sultan. Incredibly simple lyrics, yet ultimately endearing in both sound and passion. Doo Wop influence is most prevalent here.

6) Got It Made- 9.5- Poppy, BBQ Ballad. Catchy lyrics, innocent song.

7) Am I the One- 8.8- Decent, but didn’t really hit me like the others. Cool King song about his gee tar.

8) Take Me Back- 8.5- It’s a good song, but does not bring as much new to the table. Sultan’s vocals and the overall song really, sound too much like previous tracks. Fine song, but nothing new.

9) Pig Pig- 9.9- Love this one. Balls out rock, screeching vocals, fast guitars, loud drums. In this track, King’s gal is a little, diryt, piggy, “covered in shit” haha. No lovey dovey innocence here, which makes this number really stick out. Perhaps the punk rock influence clawing it’s way into the recording.

10) Shake Real Low- 9.7- Fun (as stated in the song) Rock and Roll you can shake your ass to. Kids and everyone else should flooding the dance floor, rocking to this music, instead of the bullshit they play at dances and clubs, which sucks the fun right outta of the music. I don’t understand how our world works. Ohh well, I’m still having fun.

11) Bimbo’s Theme- 8.8- It’s somewhat catchy, but I think it goes on for too long. I dig the dueling vocals of King and the BBQ at the end though. I also really like when King freaks out and wildly screams.

12) L’il Girl In the Woods- 8.9- Sounds pretty hot lol. Cool song, but nothing special compared to the other greats. I liked when the ‘L’il Girl’ chimed in too.

13) Outta My Mind- 9.0- Funny number, great vocals from both the King and the BBQ. Very catchy. One of my favorite lines from this album, ” Ohh baby, you just ripped my heart out and left it out to dry,” which are spoken. In fact, there’s a little section of King doing some funky spoken word. I can feel the pain of not being able to get some gal ‘outta your mind.’ The emotion is very effective on this track.

14) Mind, Body, and Soul- 8.5- Doesn’t do all that much for me per se, but certainly not a bad track. It is one of those album closers that is specifically longer than other tracks, just to have an epic closing. I typically am not a fan of those. I would have preferred some catchy tune as a closer, like “Outta My Mind.”

Overall Grade- A: Fun, romantic, raw, garagey doo woppy, punky, dirty, rock and roll. These guys have recustiated the early 60s doo wop/pop genre of rock better than anyone in the universe… and they do have some fierce competition.

* Not actual title lol.

Chris