Review of Toxic in Goldmine Magazine

ROGER KLUG
Toxic and 15 Other Love Songs
Mental Giant (MG9002)

    Cincinnati's Roger Klug is a smart-ass. Big time smart-ass. But, hey, ain't nothin' wrong with that; Frank Zappa and Warren Zevon -- to name just two -- have built careers on being wisenheimers. The tough parts are about being a smart-ass are A.) Finding catchy, listenable music to back up your nutty rants and B.) sustaining it over an entire album.
    Well, Klug manages to turn both tricks with ease on Toxic. The tone is set right out of the box with "Toxic," a good-timey rant about a failing relationship that likens it to DDT, mercury, methanol and acid rain, among other toxins. Elsewhere, Klug tosses out a few Ben Folds Five-like, piano-fronted goofs ("On The Way To His Wedding" and the autobiographical, sweetly lighthearted "Dawdling Daughter"), a frantic, almost punky raver (the beyond hilarious "Where Did My Girlfriend Go?") and a balls-out Cheap Trick-like rocker ("She's A Singer," where Klug also mentions that the "she" in question is a model, juggler, hacker, egghead, and nomad).
    But wait, there's more! Toxic also includes a domestic argument set to (catchy) music in "All Hacked Off," the almost straight-faced ballad "Nothing Better Than Love" (which makes handy use of the phrase "rugburns on my knees" and rhymes "Haagen Dazs" with "angels in their bras") and a swinging, jumping jive turn on "Bim Bam Boom." And as a final jab, Klug actually manages to get serious on "When We're Old," a chiming, chummy ode to his life partner.
    In short, this is a rare gem of a disc that's as inventive musically as it is lyrically. For all of his smarty pants intentions, Roger Klug still manges to invest Toxic with all sorts of cool little twists and turns that make it a minor classic. (P.O. Box 9400, Cincinnati, OH 45209)

---John M. Borack