May 25, 1999 - Len and You Can't Stop The Bum Rush

Four days after my last release a new band briefly joins my library when Len released their third album "You Can't Stop The Bum Rush" on May 25, 1999. But who is Len? They are an alternative rock band from Toronto, Ontario whose only remaining original members are siblings Marc (vocals, guitar) and Sharon Costanzo (vocals, bass). They have a lot of people helping them out in this album and although I'm not actually a fan of Len's, there are two songs off this album in my library; both of them were singles, but the first was arguably the most popular song of the year, the megahit "Steal My Sunshine". It's got a very repetitive and very catchy beat to it and at first we hear some talking overtop the catchy beat as two guys talk about Marc, saying he looks "pretty uh, down" and the other saying "does he like butter tarts?" in weird and funny opening. The first verse then kicks in as Marc sings decently overtop the catchy music, bit honestly he's not that great a singer. Sharon makes her first appearance in the chorus, singing the name of the song in a cute voice on repeat and like the music, it's repetitive but also quite catchy. Before the next verse the guys are talking again, this time about how Sharon looks pretty bad after last night. One of the guys confesses his love for Sharon, and then she sings the whole second verse herself. It's not my kind of thing, but she sounds alright, better than her brother Marc in my opinion! The problem then becomes that they jam out the repetitive chorus for about two full minutes, which is way too long! It definitely drags by the end, but it's easy to see why this was so popular. The other song I have by Len is called "Feelin' Alright" and it has a pretty catchy main guitar riff that drives things along and Marc sounds better on this one as he leads a catchy verse as well. I like the yells in the chorus and just like the last song, Sharon sings the name of the song in the chorus and along with a little "do-da-doo-doo" it sounds pretty catchy once again. There's a pretty sweet guitar solo after the first chorus and from there they move into a quieter but still very catchy part with some trippy keyboards. This part sounds pretty good and they bring it back in nicely and play another verse and chorus. It seems to be a Len problem though, because once again they jam out the chorus for way too long to end things. I liked this song better than the megahit, but both are cool additions to my library. That's it for Len though, definitely a one (or two) hit wonder!

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