Description
Fun in the First World is a five-track 12-inch vinyl-EP by the American singer and songwriter Andy Pratt, released on Enzone Records in 1982. The album was engineered by Michael Golub at Blue Jay Recording Studio in Carlisle and Syncro Sound in Boston, Massachuchetts; with Leroy Radcliffe of Robin Lane & The Chartbusters fame producing. Featuring Robin Lane on background vocals, among others. All songs written by Andy Pratt. (Project direction by Dan Russell, later co-founder of Mark Heard’s Fingerprint Records.)
Andy Pratt hit on Columbia with «Avenging Annie», a majestic and musically complex tune that Roger Daltrey failed to comprehend with his deficient cover. Pratt was one of Boston rock & roll’s shining lights, but his eccentricities made for albums and musical sounds that were all over the map. If «Avenging Annie» is his signature tune, this five-song, black and white album is his finest and most compact work, and that is saying a lot. Pratt has always shared a vocal style with ex-Velvet Underground keyboard player Willie Alexander, and here the original guitarist from Willie Alexander & the Boom Boom Band, Billy Loosigian, adds his distinctive edge. «Israel» and «Paper Money» make side two much too short – they are so inviting and philosophical that the ending is much too abrupt. Pratt’s religious overtones hampered some of his earlier work on his Nemperor releases, but here he uses his beliefs and his vision to deliver an exceptional science-fiction epic in the title track. The snappy techno/dance is more direct than Falco, and more palatable than Kraftwerk. It rocks. Leroy Radcliffe’s production is commendable – Radcliffe being the former guitarist in the Modern Lovers and Robin Lane & the Chartbusters. «Burn Up in the Fire» has the mood that Pratt used to inject into his recordings with jazz; here it is rock & roll being stretched and torn apart to really fine effect. A photograph of what looks like a crucifix cut into a desert with clouds mysteriously hanging over it is a stark contrast to the Metropolis cover photo, which features a robot hand next to Pratt’s stern face. «Who Will Be My Friend» is Pratt pop, stuff that made his Columbia hit album such a masterpiece, and it gives this album a much-needed break from the intensity of the other four titles. A really magnificent and forgotten work that deserves a better fate. [Joe Viglione, AMG]
‘Fun in the First World’ (Enzone E77), Andy Pratt’s 5-song EP, could have easily been named Survival. If there had been a six song, it might of been about what the other songs are pointing to: a not so happy ending. While each song does follow a separate theme, the EP does have a consistent apocalyptic overtone.
Produced by Leroy Radcliffe of Robin Lane‘s Chartbusters, the EP takes on a different sound than Andy’s previous, an awesome up-front drum/keyboard mix. The title cut, «Fun in the First World», portrays our reckless desire for pleasure, asking the Savior to “Please Don’t Come”.
Bursting with new-wave energy is «Burn Up in the Fire», with Andy asking “I know the world is a powder keg, but how short is the fuse?” That just about describes the guitar solo by Billy Loosigian that follows. Also, his fingerwork throughout the EP is excellent. «Who Will Be My Friend», probably the only cut accessible for Christian radio, is a sensitive ballad about widows and orphans, inspired, I would think, by James 1:27.
The powerfully structured «Israel» rejoices in God’s salvation regarding His chosen nation. Andy relates the hardships and the persecution after the Holocaust with the chorus relentlessly repeating “You’ll never stop Israel… Dream of the Century…” (I’m sure Lamb fans would love it!) «Paper Money» comes closest to capturing Andy’s avant-garde side. Artistically tasteful, it’s kind of a dress rehearsal for the future of the world’s money system.
The project is being funded by Andy and being distributed by Enzone Records (545 High St., Walpole, MA 02081) while he’s between record contracts. The search to find this one is well worth the reward. [Monte Allen, CCM, October 1982]
> Apple Music (as part of the compilation The Age of Goodbye)
Vinyl-EP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Fun In The First World”- 2:45
A2. “Burn Up In The Fire” – 3:00
A3. “Who Will Be My Friend?” – 4:10
Side Two
B1. “Israel” – 3:05
B2. “Paper Money” – 4:05
Note: Remastered and re-issued on CD in 2004 as part of the compilation album The Age of Goodbye, paired with Pratt’s follow-up album, Not Just for Dancing.
The title track was re-recorded by Andy Pratt in 2016: https://andypratt.bandcamp.com/track/fun-in-the-first-world-ron-thaler-production-2016
Andy Pratt is a contender. From the time Columbia released his eponymous second LP (1973), great things have been expected. And from time to time, great things have been delivered. Bolstered by the success of such FM hits as “Summer, Summer, Summer”, and “I Give It All To My Music”, and the immense popularity of “Avenging Annie”, the Andy Pratt album won the former Cambridge folkie an instant following.
After a three year lapse Pratt came back with an LP called Resolution, and the critics went nuts. Rollingstone’s kudos were ellusive. There was a big story in People Magazine. Andy was in demand. But subsequent LPs (there have been only two) have failed to fulfil Pratt’s earlier promise. The funky, Arif Mardin produced, Shiver in the Night had too much Arif and not enough Andy. Pratt’s trademark hybrid of rhapsodic piano chording and quirky rock n’ roll chops got in the funk, as it were.
Motives (1979), was even more of a departure. Once again, Andy tried experimenting with his sound. This time the music tended toward a moody kind of jazz/rock fusion. More significantly though, Pratt’s lyrics were full of overtly evangelical Christian rhetorics, one of the first vinyl examples of the genre. When the record company failed to get behind Pratt’s fervor, Andy’s career headed straight for the breakdown lane. With forthcoming new songs Pratt sounds like he’s back in the cruising lane. Make no mistake about it. Fun in the First World is one hot-rock n’ roll record. Tough, uncompromising, and bitingly sardonic, Pratt both mocks and celebrates life as we know it here in 1982.
Coloured by his Christianity, or just plain old humanity, the first two tracks rip our gimme gimme hedonism apart (“Fun in the First World”), and paint an apocalyptic picture of how the (nuclear) madness of modern times will end (“Burn Up in the Fire”).
Ex-Robin Lane and the Chartbusters’ guitarist Leroy Radcliffe produced the sessions and deserves much praise for guiding Pratt and company through some truly inspired playing. Even a characteristic Pratt weeper like “Who’ll be my Friend” has enough dynamism to pull the listener in and keep him there. Backed by member of the Jackals and Billy Loosigian’s articulate guitar, Pratt has not sounded this compatible with a band in years. “One of my favourite things is to make records,” Pratt said recently. “I’ve written a lot more songs, but they’re not recorded. I haven’t been able to get the right situation.” With Fun in the First World as his calling card, the rest of the ride should be easy for Mr. Pratt. [Newport this Week, August 12th, 1982]
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