The Coolies “dig..?” 1986. DB Records. This LP has been languishing in the should-it-stay-or-go box forever because I find the name of the band and the cover’s artwork super-offensive. Then I realized I could just blog about it, not cross-post it to my social media feeds and then finally get rid of it. Ah…the blinded 80’s where bands would call themselves a super-derogatory term for someone who works hard for little pay (and usually referring to a race or ethnic group on top of it). The Coolies were an alt-rock band from Georgia; dig..? is their debut album – they only released one more in ’88. dig..?  is an alternative take on mostly Simon and Garfunkel songs, done with a heavy dose of Gen-X attitude of snark and sarcasm and reminiscent of the musical stylings of such other 80’s alternative groups like Dead Milkmen. They also cover Paul Anka’s “Having My Baby.” I don’t have any top picks, but a few tracks are almost palatable. The surfy “Mrs. Robinson” is kinda fun and listenable. The grungy rendition of “El Condor Pasa” is OK-ish, if nothing else for the early adoption of the grunge style, infused into a traditional Peruvian folk song.  Their unfortunate country-twanged cover of “Cecelia” is painful, it’s one of my favorite S&G songs and I never need to hear The Coolies’ version again. And the rest is just not even worth more typing about.

I almost don’t want to offer this one for sale, so as not to inflect it on anyone else but just in case (you’ve been warned):