I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus

When computers were just happening, Nixon was the national threat, and the bees and spiders are taken over, this album addresses the possibilites of careers in the future, Its like sitting on a giant hand, don't forget to inflate your shoes, and yipee tie one on. Every bus ride ride you ever take again after listening to this will be a joy if you put it on your iPod! You gotta start young if you're gonna stick it out. This is a lot of insightful tidbits you will be privy to by getting this fantastic piece of comedy. Listen for the letter to Darling Nabby and that terrible incident with the porcelin astrolabe!

The rap on the FT was that they were only funny if you were ripped. Stoned or not, this album, which may be their sharpest, most prescient satire, the boys foreshadow our cultre's obsession with themed attractions, group idendity, and other modern tropes, even Veggie Tales. The wordplay is razoriffic and even funnier than it was in 1971.

No hacker* should live his or her life without hearing this album. Into science fiction? This is a must. Amongst Firesign fans a choice of favorite album is always personal and nobody is wrong, but in my and many other fans' minds, this is the best of the best. (In fan polls, this album tends to come in first or second, never below third, competing mainly with Don't Crush that Dwarf, How Can You Be in Two Places at Once, and, sometimes, Everything You Know is Wrong, though solo efforts Roller Maidens from Outer Space and How Time Flies sometimes creep to the top or near it, and a much later album, Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death has impressed fans a lot.) While I'll grant other reviewers the delicious fact that repeated listenings bring out more and more detail (as with most Firesign albums), I don't think it's quite as baffling on first listen as they make it out to be. At least I happily remember my very first listen to this album and I "got it" in one. I was completely blown away then and still find it to be one of the most beautifully crafted, intelligent, insightful, funny, and amazingly prescient recordings ever made, by anyone, period. I could give a short recap of the plot, but part of the joy is discovering it for yourself, so I won't. The "Wall of Science" sequence is worth the price of admission alone. Listen (and watch in your mind) as specific, detailed primitive folk descriptions of the origin of the universe are gradually superceded by less and less informative scientific renditions of the beginning. It's clear the Four or Five Crazy Guys love and respect science, but they find irony and humor wherever it lives and gift it to us, their lucky listeners. Mysteries do remain, however, even after dozens of listenings... The ending, for example. Did forgetting the future literally bring them forward into the past? And, then, there's the lingering question... Why *did* the porridge bird lay its eggs in the air? (My personal answer: Because it's extinct. :) ) Anyway, it's impossible to recommend Firesign Theatre highly enough. Brilliant, insightful, multi-layered humorists the world has never seen the like of before or since. *All* their albums are worth a listen. This is worth a fortune. *By "hacker" I mean an excellent and perpetually curious computer programmer, not a "cracker" that breaks and breaks into things.

I was a big Firesign fan in high school, practically memorizing all of HOW CAN YOU BE..., and many of the routines from DEAR FRIENDS. The album before this, DON'T CRUSH THAT DWARF, was probably the pinnacle of their surrealistic, stream-of-consciousness style, relying heavily on the "channel-changing" motif that drove their radio-based humor. BOZOS is a much weaker effort, following a single story thread through both sides, without as many digressions. Some of the scenes drag on to agonizing lengths without appreciable laugh value. If you have never experienced FIRESIGN before, grab one of their earlier efforts before being stranded on this dreary BUS.

Firesign Theater may be an acquired taste to some, but if you are in to the multi-level symbolism, references, and satirical humor, this album is timeless. It takes repeated listening to fully appreciate what's going on here, but it's worth the effort. Taking time to track down the liner notes on the net will also help. If there's a problem with this album, it's that it's a little too prophetic. This relic from the late 20th century provided clear warning of what the 21st was headed for, and now we're all Bozos on this Bus. The Past has become the Future we're living Now - like the lady on the album says, "Live it or live with it." Secure your hairpieces, deflate your shoes, and sit back for the bus ride of your life. Shoes for Industry!

Another great concept comedy LP from the Beatles of Comedy, STILL ahead of it's time...as usual, only thing you need to appreciate this comedy is an imagination! It's essentially about a busload of bozo clowns (where the title comes from, when one of the clowns says to the other: "I think we're ALL bozos on this bus") heading to some sort of DisneyWorld amusement park. One of them goes to a Hall of Presidents where people can ask the robotic chiefs of states questions. They ask this remarkably prescient one - who sounds and acts remarkably like Ronald Regan, who when this was recorded in 1971 was the govenor of California and not the Leader of the freeworld - things that mess with his mind. "Can you put that in the form of a question?" Of all the FT LPs, probably the MOST off-the-wall, but TOP OF THE LINE OFF-THE-WALL! Imaginative AND funny, not many can pull it off, they do! Timeless, as usual. Get their first 4 LPS: Waiting for the Electrician (or Somebody Like Him), How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All (Where you'll enjoy the Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye); Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers and I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus.

This album is so far ahead of its time that it still takes many listening sessions to unravel its complexity. But let the "Theater of the Mind" take over, and you're in for a wonderful ride. Those of you who know this album as I do were probably amused when PBS Digital came up with the motto: "Welcome to the Future". A coincidence? Maybe. But here we are, 36 years later, still catching up to their (FT's) vision. And did anyone ever answer the question: "Why does the Porridge Bird lay its egg in the air?" "NOOOOOOOO......"