The Sarcastic Mannequins: Little Brother (1991)

Vancouver's nineties jazz-punks The Sarcastic Mannequins could be a lot of different things at any given moment. If I needed to name-drop to get you, the listener, to give this album a shot, I'd mention Camper Van Beethoven, NoMeansNo, Dick Dale, The Minutemen, Frank Zappa, The Pixies, 3 Mustaphas 3 and Sandinista-era Clash, who they pay homage to on their reloaded version of Sandanista’s “Charlie Don’t Surf”:

As the above list of musical references indicates, they weren’t three-chord bashers, which breaks one of the promises of MRML's mission statement. They’d like that. The band (Beez on bass/vocals, Bradford Lambert on drums Andrew Shyman on guitar/vocals) used to hand out lyric sheets before their shows just to make sure that even the inattentive could be offended by their words.  

 

Despite their deliberately nonlinear forays into ragas, ska, spy, and tricky, jazzy instrumental sections, the Mannequins manged to get some radio play on the CBC for their c-c-catchy swipe at classic rock radio, "The 6-6-60's are Over":

My encounter with the  Sarcastic Mannequins occurred when they played a tight, blistering set on a Tuesday in October of 1989 at the University of Manitoba’s bar. The assembled crowd wasn’t - so we all hung out backstage and they peppered us with quotes for my review for the University's paper. 

Yeah, I dropped the name of the Bad Brains and my band (see HERE, yeesh) into the review. Shameless. The band members kept in touch for a while and Beez was always friendly – even when I hinted that they should’ve tacked the demo onto the CD.  He went on to man the bass for the most-excellent Smugglers and then the lovely Beauticians.

This album will not be everyone’s cup of meat (what here is?) but  those who get it will return to it repeatedly for the many odd, quirky, cool moments like their hymn to our nation's most renowned literary export, "Margaret Atwood", which Narduar the Human Serviette brought to the attention of "The Queen of Canadian Culture" HERE.   

Like their demo, this 1991 album, Little Brother, was was a disconcerting yet fun jazz-punk fusion and though it may have came a bit too late in their career, it did still capture much of what was best about the band.

1) If You have any thoughts or reactions to this oddball trio, please advise us in the COMMENTS section, where you can go to hear Little Brother.

2) If you yourself, or anyone you know, has access to the SM's demo tape, Eye Swallow,  PLEASE ADVISE me! 

Chapter Fifteen: Jazz Punk is my Tangent.

The Sarcastic Mannequins were obscure, Canadian, Clash-loving punks but since they weren’t three chord bashers they do break one of the promises of my mission statement. They’d like that. They used to hand out lyric sheets before their shows just to make sure that even the inattentive could be offended by their words. As well the (remaining) dogmatic punk punters were probably enraged by their forays into ragas, ska, spy, and tricky, jazzy instrumental sections. Never wanky (and usually catchy) the Mannequins would have been a good opener for NoMeansNo but with less “Kill Everyone Now” and more “Everything Pisses Me Off”.

The Sarcastic Mannequins (Beez on bass/vocals, Bradford Lambert on drums Andrew Shyman on guitar/vocals) played a tight, blistering set on a Tuesday in October of 1989 at the U of M’s pub. The assembled crowd wasn’t - so they let us hang out backstage and showered me with quotes (I was reviewing the show for the university paper). Their demo tape (still their peak) was a disconcerting yet fun jazz-punk fusion and though this album came a bit too late in their career (less propulsive) it too gave CBC Radio’s late night bizzarro programs more wild content in the dullest era of modern musical history.

Yeah, I dropped the name of the Bad Brains and my band (see ch 14) into the review. Shamless. The band members kept in touch for while and Beez was always friendly – even when I hinted that they should’ve tacked the demo onto the CD. He went on man the bass for the most-excellent Smugglers and plays in a band called the Beauticians.

This album will not be everyone’s cup of meat (hey what here is?) but to those who get it – you’ll return to it for those WTF moments spread throughout the album and if you just download for a quick look-hear don’t stop till you hit their reloaded version of Sandanista’s “Charlie Don’t Surf”.

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