The Amazing Jeckel Brothers

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The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
Studio album by Insane Clown Posse

Publication
(s)

May 25, 1999

Label (s) Island Records , Psychopathic Records

Format (s)

CD, vinyl record, music cassette, download, streaming

Genre (s)

Horrorcore , Rap-Rock

Title (number)

17th

running time

69:31

occupation

production

Mike E. Clarke

chronology
The Great Milenko The Amazing Jeckel Brothers Bizaar
Single releases
1999 Echo Side (under the pseudonym Dark Lotus )
1999 Another love song
1999 Fuck the World (as "Fxck the World")
1999 Mad Professor

The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is the fifth studio album by the US horrorcore duo Insane Clown Posse . It was released on May 25, 1999.

backgrounds

In The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is the fifth Joker's Card in the first deck of the Dark Carnival -concept. This is a narrative that spans several of the group's albums and presents one or, as in this case, several coherent characters per work, each of which takes on a specific role in the philosophy of the fictional universe in which the music is set.

At the same time, it is also the duo's second album, which was released on Island Records . The musicians' last work, The Great Milenko , hit the headlines when Hollywood Records quickly took it off the shelves because it did not meet the family-friendly standards expected by parent company Disney , which the band joined Island Records was signed where the album was re-released. The incident and the resulting increased media interest meant the commercial breakthrough for the group, and ensured that the follow-up work The Amazing Jeckel Brothers in the USA was expected in advance.

While working on the album, both rappers often listened to music by Michael Jackson , Violent J in particular also listening to music by Pearl Jam . From the songs of the first-named interpreter, they learned to make "crystal clear" music, such as Dr. Dre produce. They didn't want their songs to sound "dirty" like those of the Wu-Tang Clan , although they would appreciate this group too. They were inspired to write the song Fuck the World when they were heavily criticized for their album The Great Milenko .

All songs were produced by Mike E. Clarke and, with the exception of Assassins , which is a cover version of the Geto Boys title written by Prince Johnny C , were written by the artists together with him. The Jerky Boys , Ol 'Dirty Bastard , Snoop Dogg and Twiztid appear as guest artists .

Four singles were released from the album: Echo Side (together with Twiztid as supergroup Dark Lotus ), Another Love Song , Fuck the World (under the name Fxck the World ) and Mad Professor .

Music and lyrics

The Amazing Jeckel Brothers can be assigned to the style of horrorcore , a sub-genre of hip-hop , which is characterized by lyrical and musical aesthetics and motifs from horror literature . In addition, due to its mixture of stylistic devices from classic rap music and hard electric guitars, it can also be counted as rap rock . In terms of content, the album is characterized by brutality , scary content and provocation , which are sometimes also very black-humored , although these are thematized against the background of an overriding morality . The premise of the concept album is that the two eponymous Jeckel brothers Jack and Jake, who represent the good and bad side of each person, juggle fireballs depicting the sins of the person concerned. If these were so numerous that the brothers were no longer able to perform the juggling, one would go to hell .

Cover design

The drawn cover artwork for The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is available in two versions; one shows Jake, the other Jack Jeckel. Both designs are very similar: from the flames of a on a skull standing candle which rises with clown - Makeup painted head of each brother on, this has shaggy hair and long, pointed teeth . Small the hands can be seen below, the three fireballs shovel over the head of the character. Only the colors yellow , red and black are used. The two versions differ in that the colors in the faces have been reversed, the fireballs are juggled in the opposite direction and Jake laughs while Jake looks grim.

Track list

The Amazing Jeckel Brothers 
No. title length
1. Intro 1:19
2. Jake Jeckel 1:26
3. Bring it on 4:28
4th I want my shit 5:20
5. Bitches (feat. Ol 'Dirty Bastard & The Jerky Boys ) 4:33
6th Terrible 4:20
7th I Staff People 1:38
8th. Another love song 4:12
9. Everybody Rize 3:21
10. Play With Me 4:18
11. Jack Jeckel 1:26
12. Fuck the world 3:43
13. The Shaggy Show ( feat.Snoop Dogg ) 6:32
14th Mad Professor 5:50
15th Assassins (feat. The Jerky Boys) 5:15
16. Echo Side ( feat.Twiztid ) 5:41
17th Nothing's left 6:09

criticism

The reviews of The Amazing Jeckel Brothers were very different. Depending on the review, it was sometimes rated entirely devastating or exuberantly positive.

The magazines that were least sympathetic to the work include Rolling Stone and New Musical Express . In particular, they criticized the commercial character of the whole music project, which made its mainstream debut with The Amazing Jeckel Brothers , as well as the many gimmicks with which the group was probably trying to appeal to a young, rebellious target group. It was also felt that the two rappers had no lyrical talent and instead referred to moments of shock that would no longer shock. The concept of the album, sorting out good and bad, was felt to be trite. A comparison was made with the musicians Eminem and Kid Rock , who had just become famous at the time , and it was argued that the former, despite similarly demonic themes, at least used a realistic narrative and offered insights into his destroyed self-esteem . Insane Clown Posse, on the other hand, have ridiculous, sexist comic book fantasies that they would hide behind their disturbing and questionably popular Dark Carnival philosophy.

Meanwhile, the German website laut.de awarded its top rating of 5 stars and included the album in its Milestones section , in which it pays homage to important and great albums in music history; and both AllMusic and Willamette Week rated it the best Insane Clown Posse album and an all-round success. The concept of the work has been praised several times, which would give it structure and momentum, and would be a sign of the development of greater ambitions on the part of the group. Subsequently, its role in the overall premise of the Dark Carnival concept was highlighted, which was received as unique in the history of music. Was praised beyond, the band that after trips to the metal on the previous album, once again mainly the hip-hop dedicate, this with rock and pop as a varied, dense mix and rap-rock - classics had created. The technical limitations of the rappers would be completely offset by content, morals and variety of topics.

Both positive and negative reviews also praised the high quality production by Mike E. Clarke.

success

In the United States, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers was a huge commercial success. The album reached number 4 on the local charts and was awarded a platinum record. It sold significantly worse in the UK , reaching position 99. In the rest of the world, it failed to make it into the charts.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of publication. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone interview about the albums from the first Joker's Cards deck. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Rolling Stone interview about the albums from the first Joker's Cards deck. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone interview about the albums from the first Joker's Cards deck. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Album credits. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  6. ^ "Echo Side" single. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  7. ^ "Another Love Song" single. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  8. ↑ "Fxck the World" single. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  9. ^ "Mad Professor" single. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Rolling Stone interview about the albums from the first Joker's Cards deck. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Album cover (Jack Jeckel). Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Album cover (Jake Jeckel). Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  13. ^ Rolling Stone review. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  14. ^ NME criticism. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  15. ↑ laut.de criticism. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  16. ^ AllMusic review. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  17. ^ Willamette Week's "All 13 Insane Clown Posse Albums Ranked". Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  18. ↑ US charts. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  19. ↑ US awards. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  20. ↑ UK charts. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .