Just like a few of his musical heroes (
George Clinton,
Prince),
Paris the Black Fu has a perverse taste in material, but a wealth of production smarts to smooth over any of those latent eccentricities, like, say, a bent on the scatological that informs nearly every track he writes. Early
Detroit Grand Pubahs tracks, as well as his solo productions, found the perfect balance between the stark, tight world of acid techno and the stark -- but conceptually much, much looser -- world of booty techno. Their novelty hit "Sandwiches" created great expectations for a debut full-length on Jive Electro, but the group was soon dropped and fellow
Pubah Andy Toth left just after.
Paris, alone here except for a few tracks (two which feature
Toth date from much earlier), proves he's still a solid producer, though his vocal performances are, to put it charitably, complicated. He's undeniably an adept character actor in song, but he attempts far too much and takes far too many liberties with his audience to construct a successful LP. "God Impostors" is an excellent production and an able critique of police practices, but for "Surrender"
Paris deserts all semblance of performance technique and delivers an affected, melodramatic vocal that drifts between sung and spoken (if it's a character he's assuming, it must be a drunk off the street). One ambitious track is more successful; over a mid-tempo grind and prefaced by an agonized
Randall Lynch guitar solo worthy of
Eddie Hazel himself (no small praise), "Tig o' Bake Fitties" is a lament of what plastic surgery has done to beauty, with
Paris lamenting on the chorus, "Where have all the real titties gone?" Tellingly, the two productions with
Toth -- booty anthems "Big Onion" and "The Clapper" -- are the only tracks here worthy of past
Detroit Grand Pubahs material.