Humour is what these guys were obviously all about. Rednex pioneered an unusual mixture of Country Music and Eurodance when there was an actual market for it. The music here was a reasonable hit as a result, coming off the success of Cotton Eye Joe, which is the biggest hit that these guys had. Notably, the original album artwork is somewhat offensive to some out there, with an image of a guy peeing into a cup with the main band members’ faces in it. Quite disgusting, really, to be fair. This artwork was edited for a USA release so as not to offend others. Still, this amusing mixture of music and conceptualism should be heard, so let’s take a listen to it.

Cotton Eye Joe begins with a lone parody Country music vocal, and quickly launches into EDM-styled sounds and beats, followed by fiddle. It quickly enters into a great tune that is fun and danceable upon listening. This is obviously not supposed to be taken at all seriously. The verses are sung by Annika Ljungberg, who does an interesting Country Music interpretation herself vocally. “Where did you come from? Where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eye Joe?” is the question that will never be answered properly here. Banjos and other Country and Western instrumentation are present here as well. A very upbeat, joyous and very much humourous tune to listen to. This is instantly worth repeat listens, if this is your thing. A great tune to listen to, for all its goofiness. Great to hear.

Hittin’ The Hay begins with more Country vocals, banjo and sounds really weird. It’s another musical parody and has banjo and crowing roosters as well. Breakbeats then promptly enter. This is not at all designed to be taken seriously, mind you. It may definitely not be the greatest album ever, but is a laugh to hear. It ransacks elements of the most redneck of Country Music and applies 1990s Roland EDM based sounds to full effect. A really weird and wonderful tune to listen to, this is quite bizarre listening, with Country yodelling and Banjo galore. Many will not find the appeal of this music worthwhile, especially as there is a rather odd key change towards the end. Still, it works well. A good and trashy tune to listen to, when you need some Rednex in your life. It ends with chickens clucking.

Riding Alone is a more traditional Country piss-take that sounds really laugh-out-loud funny. It quickly enters into a gloriously grand tune that is real Country Music for those who have never really heard Southern USA music to boot. A weird tune about looking for someone’s lady whilst riding alone in the desert, this is definitely not supposed to be taken seriously whatsoever. A real Redneck, Country and Western tune, with Banjo galore, this is seriously weird, but fun listening. Awesome to hear, although not a serious listen. There is chanting towards the end, and this is super weird to listen to. Grab your Fender Telecaster and pull off some Country licks to this one. It ends with Accordion, nice work.

Wish You Were Here is not Pink Floyd, although it begins with some crisp and melancholy-sounding Pink Floyd-styled acoustic guitar. It is an interesting ballad-like tune, which quickly kills the humour of the record. To be fair, this song is a serious ballad that makes this album sound a little awkward musically thus far. It disrupts the parody of Country Music for something far more serious. Therefore, this is a good song but in terms of musical flow, is quite a letdown. It does sound nice and pretty, however. It’s just a weird but acceptable left turn musically. This is something that is an oddity in terms of this album but is a beautiful song nonetheless. Good to hear anyway, even if this is contrary to the rest of the album at hand. A strange yet beautiful tune, this is very pretty. A good song.

Mary Lou is a Country Music ballad with piano to begin with. Soon enough, this launches into heavy EDM beats and returns back to the rather odd Country Music EDM party humour of the record. It covers relationship issues in a strange and weird way musically. The record is kind of running out of appeal by this point, although again, this is not meant to be taken seriously, for the most part. A great piece of parody-based music with some really quirky lyrics and a Country Music humour feel to it. Towards the end is a great Accordion solo, before launching back into the full-on Country vibe. There is much hollering and yelping towards the end, before this ends with the piano from the start. A good listen, once again.

Old Pop In An Oak begins with yelping, followed by introductory vocals and launches into a bunch of EDM sounds, entering into a gloriously good and wonderful awkward fusion of Country and Eurodance EDM. Really cool and awesome musically, this is one of the better moments from this album and sounds nice and a wonderful redneck tune to boot. Again, this is not designed to be at all taken seriously. A great Banjo solo is here, along with a ton of yodelling and yelping. This is very 1990s and very much a joke musically. There is a breakdown in the second half, with a voiceover, followed by more trashy Rednex sounds and a danceable feel to the music. A weird, wacky and humourous tune, do not take this at all seriously. Another cheesy tune for those who cannot take either Country Music or EDM seriously.

Nowhere In Idaho is another serious song. It has some strummed acoustic guitar, Country stereotypical sounds galore and launches into a really pathetic attempt at a deep and meaningful tune. Unfortunately, as good as this idea for a song may be on paper, it doesn’t really have great appeal. It has some good production values, but aside from that, this is not really fantastic. Other groups have put out more favourable Country and Western songs that are more serious than this. It’s okay, but is definitely not fantastic. In any case, depending on if you dig real Country Music or not, this may appeal to you. Otherwise, you may want to skip this tune. Really different, but not that good, to be fair. A strange listen, and not really memorable or interesting. It’s over after four minutes in length.

The Sad But True Story of Ray Mingus, the Lumberjack of Bulk Rock City, and His Never Slacking Strive to Exploit the So Far Undiscovered Areas of the Intention to Bodily Intercourse from the Opposite Species of His Kind, During Intake of All the Mental Conditions That Could Be Derived from Fermentation is one long song title. It actually begins with some nice Fender Telecaster sounding licks and launches into another, rather poor parody here. This track is weird beyond all belief. By this point, the initial appeal of the album has definitely worn off and this song, although more on the parody side of things, probably isn’t that memorable. Regardless, it is a good effort with some lame lyrics and an awkward fusion of Country Music and sexual lyrics. It ends with glasses clacking and the sound of a pub. Weird.

Fat Sally Lee begins with some Electronic sounds, some lone Country vocals and launches into a strange Country/EDM tune. It’s fairly repetitive, and another tune not to be taken too seriously, of course. Fiddle dominates this tune in the instrumental breaks. This is another cheesy and fairly enjoyable tune to listen to, continuing the themes of most of this album. By this point, one has to be really drunk rather than sober to enjoy this album. In any case, this cheesy music isn’t designed to be the greatest listen ever, more a here today, gone tomorrow phenomenon. It’s enjoyable, but nonsensical and a bit of a drag to get through. In any case, this is a good listen for what it is. The appeal wears off fairly quickly, however.

Shooter begins with some rather weirdly humourous dialogue, sounds of guns being shot and fiddles and Electronic sounds entering. 4/4 beats enter and this tune is a cowboy parody that is quite awesome. A weird and wonderful shooter song, this is a really awesome and wonderful adventure musically. The female vocals act as a counterpoint musically here to the Wild West-styled story and violence. Cheesy to the nth degree, this is another rather trashy listen, but in a good way. Great to hear anyway, this sounds like something that would have nicely worked musically at the time. This is not supposed to be perfect nor a classic tune, but it is quite humourous in its own way. A really cool listening experience nonetheless. The outro has a key change and sounds very weird. Good though.

McKenzie Brothers begins with wind whooshing, a quick voiceover and launches into drum breaks and some interesting Fender Telecaster-styled guitars. This continues with a voiceover about Country and Western ideals that are present here. A really cool and different listen, this sounds rather unusual and unorthodox on this album, but it is still a really great piece to hear. A deep and interesting tune that sounds quite cool, this is filler but enjoyable filler throughout. A cool and atmospheric listen, this is a great voiceover tale of Cowboys, Wild West ideals and a good musical adventure, this sounds really different. It’s an intermission sort of piece, but it still sounds good today. There is some Opera styled chanting towards the end, which is different. A good listen, but again, an intermission piece to interrupt things. A good listen, however. It ends with some screams amongst the wind whooshing. Weird.

Rolling Home begins with some crows croaking, soft kick drum beats and launches into a very weird and strangely moving Synth Pop-styled tune with hummed male harmonies throughout. This is not very good listening for this album, to be fair. It leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth here, and although the female vocals are soothing and well-sung, this is rather awful, to be honest. This is a poor attempt at seriousness on this album that does not sustain its welcome. If you are one for skipping tracks, do skip this one. It’s not at all valuable. Truth be told, this sort of experimentalism should be on another album, not this one. Sure, the singing present is great but it kills the purpose of the album as something light-hearted and entertaining. A Synth Pop 1990s ballad that would have been much better put on an album elsewhere. Really morbid and depressing.

Wild ‘N Free returns back to the lighthearted humour side of the album, with EDM beats, Banjos galore and yelping. This has some weird and odd chanting throughout, along with some excellent fiddle breaks here. A good way to finish off a confusing and odd-sounding album, this is a better moment from this rather odd mish-mash musically. Pleasant and a weird Happy Hardcore-esque-sounding tune. It has a breakdown in the second half which continues the mayhem nicely. A very strange and unusual listen, this has some genuine momentum about it. A very odd and strange tune to listen to, this is a good way to finish off an accompanying album. It gets faster and faster right at the end, before finishing up at a lightning-fast pace.

This album probably never should have been released. Although it is a good musical template mixing humourous Country & Western with trashy EDM, the mish-mash of songs and ideas isn’t that great and therefore, this is an album that is really only worth hearing once. Cotton Eye Joe was a good one-hit wonder, but sadly none of the other songs on this album match it. This is a historical oddity in the world of music. Should you hear this album? Probably not, even if you like the ideas behind it. It is just not consistent enough.

Interesting humour and inconsistent music in one album.

5/10