Boingo Alive
Boingo Alive is a double album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1988. It was performed and recorded live in a rehearsal studio with no audience, with the band performing songs from previous albums and two previously unreleased songs to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the band's beginning.
| Boingo Alive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover art designed by Georganne Deen | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | September 26, 1988 | |||
| Recorded | July 1988 | |||
| Venue | Power Plant Rehearsal Studio (North Hollywood) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 128:12 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek | |||
| Oingo Boingo chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Boingo Alive | ||||
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Background
According to the Los Angeles Times, as well as the album's sleeve sticker and promotional material, Boingo Alive was recorded live on a soundstage over nine nights in July 1988.[1] The sticker and ads also read, "Hear our greatest hits the way they were meant to be heard—live".
After Oingo Boingo migrated from A&M Records/I.R.S. Records to MCA Records in 1984, A&M had retained ownership of the band's previous recordings, but by 1988 the band became legally able to re-record their old material. Frontman Danny Elfman stated that Boingo Alive was a project the band had been planning for years, as they had been unhappy with the sound of their studio recordings, particularly with regards to the comparative lack of "energy". Elfman stated, "This is our 10th anniversary as a band and we wanted to present our songs in a way that our fans have grown accustomed to (when) seeing us."[1]
On the choice to eschew an audience, Elfman said at the time, "I hate the poor fidelity and the crowd noise from live albums. It made more sense this way. It's just us playing in a big room with a mobile truck outside—minus the 10,000 screaming teenagers."[1]
"Winning Side" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in November 1988.[2]
Track listing
Disc 1
All tracks written and composed by Danny Elfman.
Tracks marked with an asterisk do not appear on the LP and cassette versions of the album.
| No. | Title | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dead Man's Party" | Dead Man's Party (1985) | 6:22 |
| 2. | "Dead or Alive" | Good for Your Soul (1983) | 4:04 |
| 3. | "No Spill Blood" | Good for Your Soul | 4:32 |
| 4. | "Stay" | Dead Man's Party | 3:57 |
| 5. | "Cinderella Undercover" | Previously unreleased | 4:37 |
| 6. | "Home Again" (*) | BOI-NGO (1987) | 5:24 |
| 7. | "Help Me" (*) | Dead Man's Party | 3:56 |
| 8. | "Just Another Day" | Dead Man's Party | 5:07 |
| 9. | "It Only Makes Me Laugh" | So-Lo (1984) | 3:41 |
| 10. | "My Life" | BOI-NGO | 4:46 |
| 11. | "Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself)" | Nothing to Fear (1982) | 3:48 |
| 12. | "Not My Slave" | BOI-NGO | 4:08 |
| 13. | "We Close Our Eyes" (*) | BOI-NGO | 3:29 |
| 14. | "Elevator Man" (*) | BOI-NGO | 4:26 |
| 15. | "Return of the Dead Man" (*) | Instrumental reprise version of "Dead Man's Party" | 1:46 |
Disc 2
All tracks written and composed by Danny Elfman, except "Violent Love", by Willie Dixon.
| No. | Title | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Winning Side" | Previously unreleased | 3:57 |
| 2. | "Wild Sex (in the Working Class)" | Nothing to Fear | 4:16 |
| 3. | "Grey Matter" | Nothing to Fear | 5:42 |
| 4. | "Private Life" | Nothing to Fear | 3:09 |
| 5. | "Gratitude" | So-Lo | 4:47 |
| 6. | "No One Lives Forever" (*) | Dead Man's Party | 4:06 |
| 7. | "Mama" (*) | 7-inch box set version of BOI-NGO | 4:52 |
| 8. | "Capitalism" (*) | Only a Lad | 4:12 |
| 9. | "Who Do You Want to Be" | Good for Your Soul | 3:20 |
| 10. | "Sweat" | Good for Your Soul | 4:29 |
| 11. | "Violent Love" | Oingo Boingo EP (1980) | 2:21 |
| 12. | "On the Outside" | Only a Lad (1981) | 3:43 |
| 13. | "Only a Lad" | Only a Lad / Oingo Boingo EP | 3:50 |
| 14. | "Goodbye, Goodbye" | Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Music from the Motion Picture (1982) | 3:32 |
| 15. | "Country Sweat" (*) | Country rearrangement of "Sweat" | 5:13 |
| 16. | "Return of the Dead Man 2" (*) | Instrumental reprise version of "Dead Man's Party" | 2:40 |
Personnel
Oingo Boingo
- John Avila – bass, vocals
- Steve Bartek – guitars
- Danny Elfman – vocals, rhythm guitar
- Carl Graves– keyboards, vocals
- Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez – drums, percussion
- Sam Phipps – tenor and soprano saxophones
- Leon Schneiderman – baritone saxophone
- Dale Turner – trumpet, trombone
Additional musician
- Bruce Fowler – trombone
Technical
- Danny Elfman – co-producer
- Steve Bartek – co-producer
- John Avila – co-producer
- Bill Jackson – engineer, mixing
- Jim Scott – additional mixing, additional recording
- Le Mobile – audio recording
- Dean Burt – additional recording
- David Roberts – assistant engineer
- Greg Stevenson – monitors
- Charlie Brocco – assistant engineer (mixing)
- Robert Hart – assistant engineer (mixing)
- Jeff DeMorris – assistant engineer (mixing)
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Vartan – art direction
- DZN, The Design Group – design
- Georganne Deen – illustration
- John Scarpati – group photo
- Steve Jennings – live photos
- John Burlan – live photos
- Laura Engel – live photos
- Sean Riley – live photos
References
- Goldstein, Patrick (August 14, 1988). "Boingo 'Hits' Back to Back". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- "Oingo Boingo". Billboard.