Napoleon & Josephine (Singles Volume 2)

The second compilation of Sun City Girls rarities to emerge after the tragic passing of Charlie Gocher puts a strong focus on an element that casual listeners of the band might not always have immediately caught — the trio's gift for and appreciation of downright surreal, scabrous humor, often in bursts of one- or two-minute-long songs. Such efforts make up the majority of Napoleon and Josephine, drawing on a wide passel of songs recorded between 1985 and 1997, many of which appeared years later on a variety of compilations. Perhaps that's what makes the album so remarkable as a straightforward listen — it all feels of a piece, not all the same but feeling as if it was always intended to be presented in such a fashion. The last two songs, including the title track (featured here in a previously unreleased version) find the band exploring things at more length — on said title track two voices go at each other in a way that almost sounds like Cheech & Chong for politically aware stoners (probably more of a crossover market than many would guess). Otherwise it's shorter bursts of often amazing randomness, like the distorted radio voice on "Voice of America #3" sending heavily accented greetings to "Meester Big Criminal!" Elsewhere "Sleazy Nashville" simultaneously delivers a ridiculous country parody and obviates the need for Pavement's existence, while "A Wake" features an auctioneer/AM radio broadcaster-nerd-rap-rant about mass genocide set against instrumental clutter. "The Weatherman" might in ways be the most Sun City Girls-like song on the disc in a broad-brush sense, down to the combination of chimes and bells backing the squirrelly proclamations of the titular figure — and then there's "Encyclopedia Vomitanica," with subject matter not far removed from early Carcass lyrics (if not early Carcass music).