Cheech & Chong - Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album

So, I've decided to give myself a challenge. I'm going to write a review for a comedy album, but not just any comedy album. This is the review for one of the best non-stand-up comedy albums I have ever heard, which contains one of the greastest Hard Rock songs I have ever heard.

Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album contains eleven tracks of comedic genius, and not just a bunch of dumb stoner jokes as one might think. While there are also some dick jokes, there aren't any fart jokes. However, I don't want to spoil any jokes or punchlines, so I'm going to try and keep the descriptions down to a minimum. Just try and give you an overview of how things play out.

Also, before I get into the tracks too much I want to talk about Lou Adler, the producer behind this album. This is the same Lou Adler that directed the first movie as well. However, he was a record producer first, working with artists like; Sam Cooke, The Mamas & the Papas, Johnny Rivers, Barry McGuire, Scott McKenzie, The Grass Roots, Spirit, Carole King, and The Weaver Temptations. However, music is a bit easier to produce than music, but only in the sense that it doesn't generally require the special effects and noise effects needed to make a comedy track work. Not to mention that the sound has to be spot on, to make it all actually sound real, and not just like an old radio show.

Just as a little added note. Lou Adler was also the producer for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The first track on the album is called Championship Wrestling. Although this is supposed to be a multi layered audio gag, I think it's more of a humourous art piece. I think that Meatloaf may have stolen this idea when he recorded Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

The Other Tapes follows that. This is basically the audio version of a slapstick piece. Cheech's character is covered in tape, and Chong's character is pulling it off. Let the silliness ensue.

One of the cool things about a Cheech and Chong comedy album is the way they are put together. I've personally owned three in my lifetime. This album (Wedding aAlbum), Big Bamboo and Greatest Hit (that's not a typeo), and all of them have a flow that's perfect. For example Championship Wrestling runs just shy of seven minutes, The Other Tapes follows that, running just over two minutes, and then Testimonial By R. Zimmerman hardly breaks the twenty second barrier. It's this great little filler, with a cheesy punchline that you can't help but laugh at.

Then it's on to Hey Margaret. If you have ever seen Cheech & Chong Still Smokin' you may remember this skit at the end of the movie, when they are doing their "live" show. Basically this is a couple that go to a pornography theater in 1974, and the husband is trying to get the woman interested in watching the movie. Then once she is interested, the man wants to leave in disgust. It's a great shot at the Archie Bunker type of the day.

Track five is one fo the greatest Hard Rock songs ever, Earache, My Eye. The song is listed as featuring Alice Bowie, which was the name of Cheech & Chong's band. The lyrics are about the joys and pleasures of being a transvestite Rock Star. And when you are done laughing your ass off, you notice that the guitar in this song is amazing. The main riff is thick and heavy sounding, and so damn awesome that Metal bands have covered it, the first one I can think of is Korn. However, the part no one ever covers is the part of the comedy routine that the title actually comes from, which is not part of the actual song.

After that it's on to three tracks that all work within each other. Wake Up America, Black Lassie (A Great American Dog), and Wake Up America (Conclusion). The first part is a paraody of Geraldo Rivera, featuring Gerendo Revolver doing an in depth investigation into the music industry. It's funny how this was recorded in 1974 before Geraldo became the joke that he ended up as. The idea is he's supposed to be doing an expose on drugs, sex, and money in the music industry while being completely oblivious about what's going on around him.

Black Lassie (A Great American Dog) is another music piece. This is a major Funk song, about a dog born in the Detroit Ghetto. It comes in as a song the reporter is supposed to be listening to. This song has a flute, and one hell of a wah solo. It get's so in depth that the vocalist has to reprimand him during the performance. I actually listen to this song and Earache My Eye as normal songs. They are funny, but they are so amazingly well written and performed.

The conclusion to Wake Up America is just that. It's a short track of pleasantries and ass kissing, that brings everything to a nice ending, by pointing out that the music industry is screwed because society is.

There are two characters that are continuing characters thoughout the multiple albums and even the first Cheech & Chong movie. Pedro and Man, are the actual names of Cheech (Pedro) & Chong (Man) in the first movie. Those two characters are also here on the track The Baby Sitters. Which features a contest to see who can hold their breath the longest and Man ignoring everything while he's got his headphones on.

This flows right into the Three Little Pigs, which is a story Pedro is telling to the kids. But, it's not the little pigs we know. This is the story of three really messy kids that don't clean up after themselves, so the parents abandoned them. Then the three little pigs are forced to deal with the landlord.

The only track on this album that actually contains any real drug jokes is Coming Attractions which finishes off the album. I think the only reason it's called Coming Attractions is due to the fact that they never would have gotten away with a track called Mr. Dope America. At least not in 1974.

This album made me roar with laughter the first time I heard it, and it's taken everything I have to review it seriously. This is a comedy album that you need to own, and I don't know any other way to say it.

8/10 - content

10/10 - production

8/10 - personal bias