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Back in 2005, Dane Cook and three other comedians (Gary Gulman, Jay Davis and Robert Kelly) toured the country on a bus, stopping along the way to perform 20 shows in 30 days. The tour was filmed for a nine-episode show on HBO. While they were at it, they decided to put out a CD soundtrack from the tour to introduce fans to a number of the up-and-coming musical acts that they encountered along the way.
The Tourgasm soundtrack includes 24 tracks: half musical, half clips from the show. Since I’d heard great things about Dane Cook’s comedy, I was more than happy to forgive the guy for the whole Employee of the Month thing. In fact, I was really looking forward to hearing clips from the show. Unfortunately, they aren’t actually clips from the show. Instead, they’re short behind-the-scenes clips: Dane on the phone with his dad, the guys discussing who farts the most, Dane talking about urinating in his humidifier. Random things like that. If you’ve seen the HBO show (or if you laugh at anything involving the words “fart,” “ass,” or “balls”), maybe you’ll find them funny, but I can’t say that I did—especially not the second time around. Fortunately, though, they’re just a few seconds long—and they’re easy to skip.
The musical tracks feature twelve acts chosen by Cook himself. They consist of everything from happy hippies to angry rockers—which doesn’t exactly make for the most cohesive of albums. Imagine putting Metallica on a compilation and following it up with Simon and Garfunkel. There are some standout songs on the album, though—and some really talented musicians who deserve the recognition that Cook gives them. Songs that you can’t get out of your head. For instance, I love the industrial-meets-‘80s-hair-band sound of “Everything You Wanted” by My Rich Friends. And I love the energy in Nico Vega’s “Rabbit in the Bag.” But along with the talented indie bands, there are also plenty of rough tracks with sketchy lyrics. And despite the fact that you’ve probably never heard of most of the bands on the CD (though there is a track by Wolfmother), you’ve heard many of the sounds before. Several of the bands sound like they come straight off the Bring Back the ‘70s Tour—which, I suppose, is great if you really love ‘70s rock. But if you’re looking for something new and original, you’ll be disappointed.
If you’re willing to take the good with the bad, you’re sure to find a few new favorites on this compilation. But unless you’re a fan of Dane Cook and his HBO series, I’d recommend skipping the album and checking out some of the bands online instead.
