‘Flight Of The Conchords’ by Flight Of The Conchords

Comedy records really are a risky business. Even the funniest comedy gets stale when it’s heard too often, and if the comedy is bolted on to a wobbly musical foundation, you’re on very shaky ground indeed. ‘Flight Of The Conchords’ avoid these pitfalls for two reasons. Firstly, the humour is funny, without being too obvious, and secondly, their musical foundations are strong. This album, largely but not exclusively a soundtrack to the first season of their TV show, meanders around pastiches of all sorts of genres – Gallic easy listening, electro-pop, hip-hop, soul – all within the first four tracks. I could go on – the band do, ending the album with ‘Bowie’, a track that effortlessly mimics three distinct phases in Bowie’s career while still holding together a complete piece of music.

Lyrically, the songs are packed with enough humour to keep you smiling throughout, and there’s plenty to pick up on through repeated listening. ‘Inner City Pressure’, ‘Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros’, ‘Ladies Of The World’ and ‘Robots’ are particular highlights, though these will vary depending on mood. Only a handful of songs miss the mark – ‘Prince of Parties’ and ‘Boom’ are pretty forgettable, and ‘Leggy Blonde’ struggles to cope outside the context of its sitcom roots (the lyrics are very funny, but probably won’t be if you haven’t seen the show). Wisely, the band try not to let any song outstay its welcome – most of the songs are finished after two and a half minutes, some don’t even get that far. It’s surely no co-incidence that the longer songs are also the better ones.

There’s another Conchords album around that I don’t have. It’d be interesting to see whether a second album would be sustainable, but this is, and it’s to their credit.