Napoleon Complex

• Artist: Various Artists
• Release Date: 1998
• Type: Collection (various artists)
• Genre: Rock

Review

Few novelty records are as bizarre or downright annoying as Napoleon XIV's 1966 smash "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" A music-free hit detailing its narrator's trip to the loony bin, it delivers the kind of cringe-worthy forced frivolity that gives strange and unusual music a bad name. Remarkably, the song also generated a staggering number of answer records, 20 of which are compiled on the excruciating but well-executed Napoleon Complex. Efforts like Josephine XV's "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!" and Henry the IX's "Don't Take Me Back, Oh-Nooo!" virtually write themselves, and indeed, this is paint-by-numbers stuff. Marginally more interesting are the foreign-language versions, including renditions in German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. And of course, no bandwagon would be complete without Kim Fowley, who contributes his own cover of the original. Painful listening, although your mileage may vary. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide