Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BUFFETT,JIMMY
Title: FRUITCAKES
Street Release Date: 05/24/1994
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Track Listing

1. Everybody's Got a Cousin in Miami
2. Fruitcakes
3. Lone Palm
4. Six String Music
5. Uncle John's Band
6. Love in the Library
7. Quietly Making Noise
8. Frenchman for the Night
9. Sunny Afternoon
10. Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost
11. She's Got You
12. Delaney Talks to Statues
13. Apocalypso

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4515 in Music
• Brand: MCA
• Released on: 1994-05-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
Fruitcakes is Jimmy Buffett's best recording in some time, for he has a better handle on the Caribbean flavors in his Gulf Coast beach-bum music than ever before. The Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band," for example, is completely recast as an easygoing calypso tune, thanks to Robert Greenidge's steel drums and Angel Quinones' congas. Even more radical is the tranformation of "Sunny Afternoon," the Kinks' satire of upper-class luxury which Buffett restates as a celebration of his own lifestyle. On the other hand, Buffett can be pretty insufferable when he waxes sentimental about his beach house, his childhood library and his daughter on the ballads "Lone Palm," "Love in the Library" and "Delaney Talks to Statues." --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

Packaged Sunshine
I know CDs aren't supposed to wear out when you play them, but I play this one enough that I worry about it. Daily. The alarm goes off. I hit snooze. I hit play. The lively beat of "Everybody's Got a Cousin in Miami" usually brings me most of the way into consciousness. "Fruitcakes" leaves me awake & chuckling. The rest is shower/dressing/breakfast/email music.

I'm not a Buffett Fan. Y'all can take Margarittaville & go Get Drunk & Screw for all I care. Most of his other stuff holds no appeal to me. But this CD is different (fans beware) & I like it. It's laid back, with just enough of a Carribean feel to be "exotic." Buffett's sense of humor shines through brightly.

Some tracks, like "Six String Music" & "Love in the Library" are unremarkable, but I find them staying with me in a lilting & upbeat way. The ode to his daughter "Delaney Talks to Statues" gets me every time, but I'm sentimental & my own daughter is growing up way too fast. I own a lot of Grateful Dead CDs (several changer cartridges full). I find his interpretation of "Uncle John's Band" enjoyable & refreshing rather than inept and blasphemous. He gets the spirit of that song & manifests it with good humor. He cracks "Apocalypso," as the ultimate existentialist joke.

Five stars for a playful, sunny masterpiece. I love it. I have it on good authority that Joe Merchant does, too.

(If you enjoyed this review, please leave positive feedback. More of my reviews can be found by clicking on the "about me" link above. Thanks!)

Modern Jimmy at his best
This cd, I believe, is Jimmy's best 90's album. There is a nice mix of ballads, (love in the library, Delaney talks to statues), and upbeat songs, (everybody's got a cousin, Quietly making noise). Another reason to buy this album is to hear Jimmy's great remake of the Greatful Dead song Uncle John's Band. This is one of my favorite Buffett cds, and it is worth the price.

Don't Overlook This One!
If you read the reviews at this site of Jimmy's 90's releases, you will find a common thread that you need to allow these albums to grow on you. I'm still having a little trouble with Banana Wind, Beach House, and even Barometer Soup. (I'm still hesitating on Carnival.) But this one is definitely worth playing until you can't get enough of it! I love Lone Palm, Uncle John's Band, Six String Music, Love in the Library, Frenchman For The Night, and especially Quietly Making Noise. Catholic school veterans and childhood fans of classic monster movies will identify with Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost, as I do. She's Got You is about the only dismissable track here. This is maybe my favorite Buffett album after Somewhere Over China. Well, it's a close 2nd tie with Volcano and Floridays... Keep playing it, you'll love it! VagbndKing@aol.com