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Taste the Secret

 
Album Review: Taste the Secret

  • Artist: Ugly Duckling
  • Rating: StarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: June 17, 2003
  • Genre: Rap

Review

It's easy to understand how three guys who worked at a fast-food chain called Meatshake would have a sense of humor about the experience, so the members of Ugly Duckling saluted the place they met (and found plenty of motif material as well) for the recording of their second album. The trio flaunts the groovy tracks, tuneful choruses, and constant microphone passing of the classic Native Tongues groups, plus much of the sampladelic lyricism. Though they can't pull off their one attempt at a real anthem ("Turn It Up"), they have plenty of excellent moments on Taste the Secret. "Meatshake," "The Confrontation," and "The Drive-Thru" send up the inanity of a restaurant that takes the meaning of Steak 'n' Shake to a new level. "The Opening Act" does for support slots what A Tribe Called Quest did for the rap industry on "Show Business" -- that is, deftly intersperses off the cuff humor with cutting commentary. It's as disarming as the hilariously bubble-bursting "A Little Samba" from their debut, Journey to Anywhere. Unfortunately, Ugly Duckling make up so many tracks from clichéd scenarios ("La Revolucion," "Rio de Janeiro," "I Wanna Go Home," "Mr. Tough Guy," "The Potty-Mouth") that the total effect is less a spin through 3 Feet High and Rising than it is an hour of Yogi Bear cartoons -- fine when you hear any one track, but much too much over the course of a full album. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Opening Act Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:55)
Turn It Up Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:56)
Meatshake Ugly Duckling, Jake ? Ugly Duckling (2:43)
Dumb It Down Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:34)
Abigail Silk Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:26)
Energy Drink Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:15)
The Drive-Thru Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (2:23)
Mr. Tough Guy Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (4:03)
Pass It On Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (4:03)
La Revolucion Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (5:16)
Potty Mouth Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (4:14)
Daisy Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:40)
The Confrontation Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (2:42)
Rio de Janeiro Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (3:22)
I Wanna Go Home Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (4:20)
Goodnight Now Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling (8:11)

Credits

Cole Gerst (Layout Design), Greg Koller (Sound Effects), Kate Romero (Photography), Greg Koller (Belching), Ivie (Vocals), Ron Felton (Voices), Kevin Kubrick (Vocals (Background)), Mike Felder (Vocals (Background)), Andy Cooper (Animal Sounds), Ursula Williams (Crowd Noise), Jen Park (Vocals (Background)), Kevin Augunas (Voices), Ugly Duckling (Producer), Andy Cooper (Voices), Fatima Akbar (Crowd Noise), Royden Vigilance (Vocals), Jeff Turzo (Voices), Kevin Kubrick (Crowd Noise), Ursula Williams (Voices), Young Einstein (Stage Manager), Greg Koller (Engineer), Double K (Vocals (Background)), Pinky Turzo (Voices), Timmy Wells (Voices), Greg Koller (Mixing), Double K (Crowd Noise), Andy Cooper (Announcer), Eddy Schreyer (Mastering), Mark MacGuire (Vocals), Dizzy Dustin (Voices), Stacy Q. (Vocals), Tim Stover (Voices), Marcia Ramirez (Voices), Kimmy Fate (Vocals), Eddie Ramirez (Voices), Lauren Berhoeven (Vocals), Josh Bennett (Voices), Fat Hed (Vocals), Romona Holmgrem (Vocals), Greg Koller (Noise), Mike Felder (Crowd Noise), Jeff Park (Voices), Kate Romero (Voices), Andy Cooper (Design), Kate Romero (Vocals), Pete Deeble (Voices), Ricardo Ramírez (Voices), Fat Hed (Voices), Jon Saint James (Mixing), Van Riker (Vocal Coach), Greg Koller (Assistant Producer), Mike Felder (Voices), Pinky Turzo (Vocals), Young Einstein (Vocals), David Wollock (Voices), Trish Henley (Vocals (Background)), Geneva Fate (Vocals), Bob Covolo (Announcer), Children of Silverado Park (Vocals), Double K (Announcer), Ursula Williams (Vocals), Andy Cooper (Vocals), Dizzy Dustin (Vocals), Children of Silverado Park (Voices), Fat Hed (Crowd Noise), Young Einstein (Voices), Fatima Akbar (Voices), Double K (Voices), Greg Koller (Vocals (Background)), Nicole Pivet (Voices), David Wollock (Vocals), Stacy Q. (Vocals (Background)), Ursula Williams (Vocals (Background)), Trish Henley (Crowd Noise), Young Einstein (Scratching), Laton Carter (Vocals), Kevin Kubrick (Voices), Juliet DeGuzman (Vocals)
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Wikipedia: Taste the Secret
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Taste the Secret
Studio album by Ugly Duckling
Released 16 June 2003
Genre Hip hop
Length 61:35
Label Emperor Norton/Rykodisc Records
ENR 7065
Professional reviews
Ugly Duckling chronology
Journey to Anywhere
(2001)
Taste The Secret
(2003)
The Leftovers EP
(2003)

Taste the Secret is the second studio album by the South Californian hip hop trio Ugly Duckling, released on June 16, 2003, by Emperor Norton Records. For the album, Ugly Duckling developed a fictitious fast food chain called Meatshake that served only meat-based food. A Web site featuring the restaurant chain was also developed as part of the album's marketing campaign.

Track listing

# Title Time
1 "Opening Act" 3:57
2 "Turn It Up" 3:59
3 "Meatshake" 2:43
4 "Dumb It Down" 3:36
5 "Abigail Silk" 3:29
6 "Energy Drink" 3:15
7 "The Drive-Thru" 2:23
8 "Mr. Tough Guy" 4:05
9 "Pass It On" 4:06
10 "Veggie-Hut" 2:31
11 "La Revolucion" 5:17
12 "Potty-Mouth" 4:16
13 "Daisy" 3:43
14 "The Confrontation" 2:43
15 "Rio De Janeiro" 3:25
16 "I Wanna Go Home" 4:22
17 "Goodnight Now" 8:12

Meatshake, a fictitious chain of restaurants offering meat-based thick shakes, was created as a promotional gimmick for the release. As a concept album, it was about working at a fast food chain and its inter-business war with Veggie Hut, an all-vegetarian fast food stand.

When it was operational, Meatshake's Web site appeared to be a fully functional site promoting a small Long Beach-area-based fast food restaurant, whose vision was meat—and lots of it, served in the form of milkshakes. The site also had a list of restaurants (the addresses of which were area McDonalds restaurants), employees of the month, and storefront pictures (one of which appeared to be an In-N-Out Burger). Currently, the site redirects to a squatter page. The archived version of the site (Feb 01, 2005 version) can be viewed here: http://web.archive.org/web/20040825215914/meatshake.com/

Reception

Sources

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/roundup.asp



 
 
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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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