Puffy - Bring it!

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My abiding love of Puffy is one of those things that people don't seem to understand. Why do I like these 2 silly women singing silly pop songs, who got a silly show on Cartoon Network? I dunno, they're a hoot? Can't that be good enough? Yeah, they can be incredibly derivative, (Their second album rips off The Who and Black Sabbath so hard it's crazy) but so what? They aren't trying to be anything they aren't, just goofy and fun. So 13 years of silliness into their careers they've put out this album, and like the rest of their albums it's full of great songs and horrible ones. A couple of the great songs were written by Shiina Ringo, who is incredibly prolific and talented and plays in any genre she wants to with aplomb. She's a great source of material. Unfortunately though, 2 of the songs were given to them by Avril Lavigne. Enough said about that. A fair amount of the album skirts pop-punk territory, unfortunately, but there's enough good stuff on here to make it worthwhile. "Anata to Watashi", for instance, could easily fit in on Todd Rundgren's "Something/anything?". It's a perfect catchy pop song full of great devices. Through the whole album, their voices, as always, blend together perfectly. And the last track, "Wedding Bell", a cover of an old song by the Japanese pop band Sugar, is just fantastic. It's a snark filled story of a woman going to an old friend's wedding, alone, feeling totally inadequate, and hating it. So she wants to just say "Fuck you, amen" to the bride. It's a very catchy tune, and Puffy really padded out the arrangement with flutes and chimes and strings, which makes the contrast to the lyrics that much better. Still, the overall album is flawed, so its rating must reflect that. And here's a video they made for "Wedding Bell". Hope you understand Japanese.