Prizzy Prizzy Please

If you have spent two months or more in Bloomington, IN, chances are that you have seen Prizzy Prizzy Please live. There's also a good chance that you absolutely loved them. In a college music scene dominated by introverted singer-songwriters and high-handed hipster rock, PPP is a ray of light.

After self-releasing a rowdy debut album, Whales Are the Biggest Fishes, and a split EP with the Sass Dragons, PPP has amassed quite a following and further developed their knack for writing absurdly good songs.

Their self-titled release picks up where their split left off (and even features a re-recorded "Thought Command"). The album begins with semi-instrumental "Shorgasm." The chugging bass and furious drumming, along with the wail of the saxophone on the opening track is just an indication of how the rest of the album is going to fare: wonderfully.

The fact that PPP does not have a guitarist is a moot point, due to the fact that keyboardist Ted Wells carries all the melodic duties of a guitarist...and then some. The grating keyboard shriek that explodes into "Too Many T-Shirts" seamlessly morphs into the load-bearing element of the song.

While not as riotous as the rest of the album, the most well-rounded song on the album is "Captain Bob." Re-recorded from their debut, "Captain Bob," while lyrically silly, is a solid mid-tempo rocker that will, without fail, burn itself into your head.

The only problem with Prizzy Prizzy Please is its brevity. At only nine songs (and 25 minutes), it is over before it starts. Fortunately though, the album closes with the monumental "Dyno Police." The song marks a new direction for the band. More than any song on the album, "Dyno Police" showcases lead singer/saxophonist Mark Pallman's saxophone and vocal skills. Sure, the lyrics really are goofy ("you scary dinosaurs! / we'll call the dyno police!"), but that's the essence of Prizzy Prizzy Please: They understand that rock and roll is supposed to be fun, both to listen to and to play.