Insane Clown Posse - The Amazing Jeckel Brothers - 1999 - Island
ICP is one of those groups that people love to hate. And in the past I've actually argued that they have a certain niche they fill, not unlike an entertaining B-movie. I've also argued that even if they're not the most talented MC's (though to be fair there are certainly worse), they are indeed competent entertainers. However, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers does nothing to back up my claims. If this were the first ICP album I had ever heard, I'd probably side with the haters as well. Jeckel is the follow-up to the rather successful Great Milenko, and as such seems to find the clowns attempting to somehow one-up themselves. So what we get here is more of the same... only less thought out. For instance "I Want My Shit" starts off a pretty straight forward rap song, but is then completely derailed by a horribly obnoxious screaming nu-metal chorus. It's both jarring and idiotic. The album sounds rushed in that sense that not much comes across like fully finished ideas. Oh sure we've got those creepy carnival instrumentals from Mike E. Clark throughout, but even his work suffers on this record where in the past he's generally been the one responsible for ICP's best tracks. The single "Fuck The World," is at least funny to hear once, as it's the aural equivalent of that episode of South Park where they use the word "shit" 200 times. The cameos by Snoop and ODB do very little to help, though "The Shaggy Show" uses Snoop as a character in their world which is at least an interesting idea. Strangely, the one track that seems to stand out here is "Another Love Song," which samples Beck's "Jackass," (or Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" depending how you want to look at it) and is a love song murder fantasy that is at least a reminder of the kind of silly satire that ICP can pull off when they're not on autopilot.