Conceptually, this is the year's best record. Wideeyed rocker Marshall Crenshaw singing "Feelings." Black-magic metal man Ozzy Osbourne declaring, "You can't sue Buddha for libel/You can't rewrite the Bible." Former Detroit Wheel Mitch Ryder hollering, "Where the hell are my shoes?" Yes, you expect conceptual brilliance from Was (Not Was), the Detroit duo whose eponymous 1981 debut LP was a lively fusion of jokey lyrics and hard-edged white-boy funk, and Born to Laugh at Tornadoes doesn't disappoint. This time out, "brothers" Don and David Was have supplied sassy, stunning music for their wacked-out words, resulting in songs whose cleverness is outdone only by their danceability.

Throughout Born to Laugh at Tornadoes, the Was Bros. employ nine different lead vocalists and recharge a host of enervated music forms (cocktail jazz, Anglo rap, cheesy pop) with sheer wit and brainy energy. Take, for example, their reclamation of former Knack singer Doug Fieger, whose adenoidal whine fits the sardonic "Betrayal" like a cheap suit. ...

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