Giving Fruitcakes to Friends3 Out of 5 Stars
Jimmy Buffet had his schtick down so perfectly that his legions of Parrotheads would/will pick up on anything the man does, good bad or indifferent. "Fruitcakes," issued in 1994, is one of the better of his middle period of albums, and channels the world where the summer never ends, the margaritas are always fresh and the Caribbean music rolls easy 24/7. However, Buffet sounds more inspired than usual, delivering patter worthy of his stage show and maybe even taking a chance or two.
The most inspired moments on "Fruitcakes" are the title song and an unusual choice of covers. He gives a rant that ends in a Network cast Howard Beale "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" that has more to do with not wanting giant cherry sodas at the movie complex before musically diving into politics, religion and "your tax dollars at work." Of course all he really wants is for his pals to all just relax and take it easy.
Then there's his reggae-fication of The Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band," shape shifting the song from its country folk roots into a loping groove that any Parrothead could love. Then again, I never saw that much light between Deadheads and Parrotheads, which may be why the transition in style works so well. Things are a little different on The Kinks' "Sunday Afternoon." Instead of Ray Davies' mournful tale of societal and marital woes, Buffet takes to the life of luxury and makes it sound like a day of sipping Colas under the palm trees. Davies would have done anything to get back his old life where Buffet makes it just another day at the party.
The rest of the tracks are pretty much standard Buffet fare, with love songs to his family ("Delaney Talks to Statues"), living the carefree life ("Lone Palm") and tongue in cheek shoreline humor ("Apocalypso"). It's nothing you haven't heard Buffet do a million times over, but "Fruitcakes" sounded genuinely engaging and still holds up fairly well today.
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