After an auspiciously flip debut — “Psycho Chicken,” the hysterical barnyard parody of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” — Boston’s Fools proved to be neither funny (intentionally or otherwise) nor musically enthralling on either Sold Out or Heavy Mental, despite the best efforts of accomplished producers (Pete Solley and Vini Poncia, respectively). After several years of national-scene silence, the Fools returned with World Dance Party in 1985, sporting a half-new lineup and a bit of sunny cowpoke vapidity called “Life Sucks…Then You Die.”
The club-rocking live album, recorded in Boston in early 1987 by the same humorless but competent quartet, includes terrible versions of “Mack the Knife” and “The Sound [sic] of Silence” along with equally enthralling originals, almost none drawn from prior albums.