Subtropical Spin

Fahrenheit 69 (Alternative Tentacles)

Comments (0) By Mosi Reeves Thursday, Jun 2 2005

While artists these days are obsessed with sex of the romantic, psychological, and gynecological kind, few are as playfully raunchy as Blowfly. The funk musician who's also called Clarence Reid charmingly reduces the act of making love to its nasty, all-too-human essence: pussies and dicks, cunts and cocks (or, in some cases, cocks and cocks and pussies and pussies).

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Blowfly, who has been sporadically issuing albums since the early '70s, is known in cult circles for his outrageously ribald parodies of popular songs, which can grow predictable after a while. The best thing about his new album, Fahrenheit 69, is that there's only two of those -- "Your Precious Cunt," modeled after Jerry Butler's doo-wop classic "For Your Precious Love," and a remake of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" as "I Believe My Dick Can Fly" ("Thinking about it makes my dick appear/Fucking the little sisters of Britney Spears") -- which makes them much funnier and more effective.

Most of Fahrenheit 69 is dedicated to grimy funk tracks, the kind of music worked out over several hours at a local pub, albeit with naughty premises such as "Diggin' Boogers," which Blowfly posits as a healthy alternative for children in danger of doing drugs. Can't argue with that. Guests include Afroman (of "Because I Got High" infamy) and, improbably, Slug from Atmosphere and Bay Area electro-booty freaks Gravy Train. Backing him up on drums is long-time New Timescontributor Tom Bowker, guitarist Chris Chavez, keyboardist Mr. Lock, bassist Dennis Murcia, and numerous additional musicians eager to join in the fun.