Like a hair-metal version of Tenacious D, Fred Yukka’s songs are often quirky,
occasionally funny but sometimes quite annoying. If songs about Arnold
Schwarzenegger, David Hasselhoff and lesbian hedgehogs are your cup of tea
then you'll probably love this album. If a slow skiffle cover of Bananarama's
'Venus' mixed with Bon Jovi's 'Livin' On A Prayer' sounds like your idea of hell,
then avoid this at all costs.
Whichever side of the fence you stand on this (and I’m still undecided), the band's
enthusiasm and the sense that they are obviously having a lot of fun is rather
endearing. The song Arnold Uber California about Schwarzenegger and his rise to
become Governor of California sung over the theme tune of The Terminator shows signs
of the inventiveness Fred Yukka can produce, but singing 'Big Ben, Big Ben' to the
tune of the landmark's famous chimes is, frankly, dreadful. On the same song (the
inventively titled Big Ben) they also produce the line 'Big Ben, Big Ben, not built
by Christopher Wren'.
Musically the band lie somewhere between 1980s hair metal and 1970s cop show theme
tunes and are as inventive as this pigeon-hole allows them to be. Whilst the songs
seem to be pretty hit and miss, there are plenty of people who would love this. I
can't help thinking that its nothing Chuck can't do a million times better.
