Osama-Yo'Mama

Ray Steven's first CD of new material in several years is something of a disappointment. There are a couple of comic gems on the CD--Freudian Slip and Shut Up and Drive--but overall the album is a bit of a disappointment. It feels as though Stevens and company were eager to capitalized on the word of mouth and apparent revival of interesting with the title track of "Osama Yo Momma!" and slapped together an album of songs that aren't up to Ray's usual standards.

Stevens is multi-talented--he can be serious and silly all on the same album--and he tries to be so here. But after the initial song and the other two gems, the rest are largely forgettable--or worse yet. One of the songs about a deer in a back seat of a car has the same tune as Ray's earlier hit "Ballad of the Blue Cyclone." There's also the feeling of Ray putting old jokes to music and building up to the eventual punchline instead of the storytelling quality we got with "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" or "Ahab the...Read more

The hook lines abound on OSAMA YO' MAMA and the material on the CD is his standard satire and country comedy. "The Hustler" is even better than what it spoofs, "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. "Bon Temps Roulette" is a wild tale of murder, intrigue, and riverboat gambling all fit into a Cajun atmosphere. "Deerslayer" is hilarious...it's a funny story of a man who has what he thinks is a dead deer wake up and go wild in the back of his car! "The Lady on the Radio" is a spoof on love advice call-in shows with a humorous twist at the end while "Gone For Good" is a one for the demented category about a man whose wife has left him with the humor coming from all the extreme forms of anger the wife unleashes (via sound effects) all the while the man meekly shrugs it off and wonders if all this means that she's had enough. "Hang Up and Drive", the CD's second track, deals with the complications of cell-phone talking in the car. "Freudian Slip" is a song about trying not to make mistakes at the...Read more

This was the first Ray Stevens CD I bought after hearing "Osama-Yo'Mama" on the radio. I agree, "Deerslayer" is a knock-off of Steven's own "Ballad of the Blue Cyclone", but I like "Deerslayer" better anyway. The rest are ok, "Bon Temps Roulette" is hilarious. Buy this, if not for originality, for the novelty.