Mr. T Experience- Everybody's Entitled To Their Own Opinion

Back in the mid-eighties, I discovered a great late night radio program that might be familiar to my readers from Canada. Brave New Waves ran late night during the week on CBC stereo (FM, now radio 2) and ran from 1984 to 2007. The show profiled alternative and indie music and since the local universities in my city didn't have a campus radio station, it provided a much need outlet for listening to non-commercial music. I discovered lots of good music and bands at this time, and each night I looked forward to laying in bed with headphones and listening to this program. Believe it or not, I kept a notebook beside my bed to jot down names of songs and bands that sounded interesting, so I would later search the import record store for any of these familiar titles. God, it would have been so much easier nowadays with Internet searches, myspace pages, iTunes and bit torrent downloading, it would have saved a ton of time. Around this time I started to send away to smaller record labels requesting their catalog or list of titles and receiving many hard to find records through the mail, again the Internet would have narrowed my search down dramatically.

Some of the bands I "discovered" (heard for the first time) on B.N.W are, Camper Van Beethoven, Volcano Suns, Half Man Half Biscuit, They Might Be Giants and the Mr. T Experience. I first heard the song, Danny Partridge on B.N.W and it was such a great song I had to find the album. Everybody's Entitled To Their Own Opinion was MTX's debut album and it was released on the Discorder label and re-issued on Lookout!. This wasn't their best album, but it's goofy and fun and it got me hooked on Dr. Frank and his dumb little band and with songs such as; One Big Lie, I'm In Love With Paula Pierce and a speedy cover of Pleasant Valley Sunday, this album rocks! It's their most punk album, as they gradually moved towards a more pop-punk sound after original guitarist, Jon Von left the band to join the Rip-Offs. The Mr. T Experience were one of the early bands from the Berkeley, Bay area, Gilman St. scene in the late 80s and 90s, the same scene that produced commercially successful bands such as Green Day. I think Dr. Frank was a much under-rated songwriter than people realized, his songs may seem like they were only, "about a girl", but his satirical and keen observation of life is a reason for the band's (or Frank solo) longevity.

MR. T EXPERIENCE
Everybody's Entitled To Their Own Opinion (1986)

1. One Big Lie
2. Just Your Way Of Saying No
3. Marine Recruiter
4. Sheep
5. Surfin' Mozart
6. Danny Partridge
7. Scientific
8. Disconnection
9. Surfin' Cows
10. I'm In Love With Paula Pierce
11. Big Mistake
12. Pleasant Valley Sunday
13. Mary Mary
14. The Empty Experience

MR. T EXPERIENCE- Everybody's Entitled To Their Own Opinion. rar