Roy D Mercer Vs Yankees

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This time around, big ol’ boy Roy D. Mercer goes on a phone-prankster road trip up North. But not even the cynical armor of today’s urban lifestyle is enough to guard these Yankees from Roy D.’s merciless badgering. Whatever side of the tracks they come from, one victim after another gets reduced to a pile of bafflement not only by Roy’s tireless harangues, but–part of the point to this album–by his actual dialect and off-color turns of phrase. Mind you, the “sitchiashuns” outlined are classic Roy Dadgum Mercer as he brings his scarifying menagerie of characters into the big cities. There’s young Lateesha with her imitation cheetah-fur collar from Dillards, the missus trying to get her “pastacasso” art collages (made from macaroni) hung in a Soho gallery, and of course sister-in-law Opa, whose car’s been left stinking “like a baby-diaper pail” after a mechanic’s repair work. Part of the fun, as usual, comes from the victims’ reactions, which are just as much directed at Roy’s accent as to his heated threats (“I’m gonna knock a popknot big ‘nough ter have an umbiblical cord”). The problem: enlightenment dawns too early in a number of the calls, leaving us with long-winded explanations of the setup. What’s more, Roy D. Mercer vs. Yankees marks the beginning of a whole new series that’s meant to be thematically focused, but in this case it comes across as frequently too contrived, where much of the pleasure of the earlier albums derives from the pure random craziness of each call. The effect of the whole is less than the inspired lunacy found on Greatest Fits–but you certainly won’t get away without some gutbucket laughter. –Tom May