Audio

The very concept of Blue Man Group is something unique; something outright bizarre. Three men painted blue who do not speak, but rather play strange instruments made of PVC pipes and do strange things involving and audience, paint, and various other ... "goodies." They're cutting-edge, or at least cutting something; who could resist?

And now they've released "Audio," their first studio album. Is it a soundtrack? Well, not really. It's based on the music they perform in their live shows, but with a larger band, and newer instrumental inventions. So it's not a film score, per se, but we'll let that slide. We'll also let slide that much of the music on the album sounds very similar, because it's generally cool.

Admittedly, I've only seen BMG on TV. I can only imagine how cool their show would be live, and how well this music would compliment it. However, on the album, it might have benefited from a bit more variety. As it stands, the album's nice to have on while working out, typing up papers at the last minute, or generally not paying too much attention. The instrumentation is wacky and fun, but it serves what is generally only good (not great) music.

The whole album could be summed up nicely in it's first and last songs, which are it's highlights. "TV Song" has a funky chord progression and feel, and "Endless Column" serves to wrap it up quite nicely. In between is much of the same, and as I said before, it probably works wonders onstage. In my stereo, it's just a nice little non-diversionary diversion.