Tom Green – Prepare for Impact (CD/DVD)
(Sony Music Canada)

Spacejunk is a Tom Green friendly zone, friendlier than most places. I’ve always taken him not as a comedian, but an entertainer, hell, performance artist, who I happen to find funny more often than not. Tom Green isn’t considered as cool as he once was, thanks to some very angry critics (and others so deprived of irony they take anything someone says or does at face value, assuming a person is just crazy or desperate for attention), but I don’t care. Tom’s my boy. So… bias alert.

But a rap album? I think most people know by now Tom Green was a member of a rap group in his youth known as Organized Rhyme, who were nominated for a Juno award thanks to the strength of their single “Check the O.R.”. They were a group that honestly enjoyed rapping, but at the same time weren’t really meant to be taken seriously. Tom’s love of rap made its way into segments on the Tom Green Show and also materialized in a little heard album released under the name MC Face, which had a number of entertaining songs about killing baby seals and bragging about how cool Glenn Humplik is. With MC Face, Tom amped up his obnoxiousness and purposely fell into some rap clichés, not as mockery, but just to have fun.

With this album, produced by Mike Simpson of the Dust Brothers (who became friends with Green doing the score for “Freddy Got Fingered”), Tom is now somewhere in between the excess of MC Face and the innocent fun of Organized Rhyme. Not that there’s isn’t tonnes of swearing to be found here, but its never as obnoxious or outrageous to me as MC Face. The songs though, with beats taken care of by Simpson, pull the project musically above both of those (though I’d still have to put some of MC Face’s songs above any of the ones here if I had to pick faves). They’re catchy, cute and stupid songs about teachers sucking, dissing celebrities, Hooters, and just being an idiot. Juvenile as it is to keep the ‘bum is on your lips’ stuff up in 2005, they’re obviously done with enough care that this shouldn’t be considered a novelty record or a comedy record, but one that just flirts with it an awful lot… I guess Tenacious D or Liam Lynch would be the best comparison.

So it’s a fun record that I’m enjoying. I don’t know how much repeat value it will have for me, especially considering I’m actually kind of picky with the rap music I do like. Which is what makes including a DVD such as wise move on Green’s part. While for example, the Roots or the Dillinger Escape Plan, will waste plastic with a DVD with almost no content, Green has provided a 45 minute tour documentary and music videos, including Organized Rhyme’s “Check the O.R.”. The doc is… OK. It’s a tour documentary so you shouldn’t expect a bunch of Tom Green Show style moments, though there are a few to be had. In between short clips of his performances on stage we see a lot of skateboarding, hanging out and interaction with people on the street as Green promotes to the media and goads passersby into coming to the show. An accompanying commentary track is actually Green looking directly into the camera at you as a TV screen behind him plays an earlier cut of the documentary. It starts out with a lot of ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ but Green settles in quick enough, giving the full story of his intentions with the rap album, how it came to be, and even candidly talking about his weight gain over the last few years. I’ve always liked Green’s commentary tracks – he’s honest, and since he’s always been putting himself into situations where he’s had to just keep talking he’s well prepared for DVD tracks.

What I like most about Green these days is that despite the fact that he seems to have mellowed out some, despite the fact that aging and Leno appearances have made him less edgy, is that he’s continued to be obsessively dedicated to his fans. Whether it be posting his phone number on his website or the free shows at Hooters, Tom Green is the very rare celebrity who really does seem to consider his fans as his friends, who does everything just to make them happy. I hope that whether or not this album is a success, Tom won’t stop that open connection which keeps him relevant and more enjoyable to his fanbase. – Goon

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Recommended If You Like: Organized Rhyme, MC Face, Liam Lynch, Tenacious D, lighthearted hip-hop (aka a third of Eminem's catalogue), Pharcyde, Beastie Boys