Anyone familiar with The Sarah Silverman Program is aware that
Silverman has a habit of breaking into song with surprisingly frequency (as do the other regular characters to a lesser extent), and now the folks at Comedy Central have collected the many musical interludes from the show, along with a variety of dialogue excerpts, on an album entitled Songs of the Sarah Silverman Program: From Our Rears to Your Ears. As the title would suggest, and to the surprise of absolutely no one,
Silverman's overwhelming fondness for poop jokes and bad taste of all stripes is on frequent display here; there's a number simply called "Poop Song," while other highlights include "AIDS Ballad," "Lesbian Song," "Make a Difference, May Kadoodie," and "Baby Penis in Your Mind." While
Silverman revels in the rude impulse, she sounds guileless and playful enough to make her material perversely charming, even as one instinctively cringes at jokes about race or the holocaust, and the melodies and arrangements have an After School Special quality that gives them a playful faux gravity which suits them well. And though no one is going to mistake
Silverman for a professional vocalist, she can carry a tune when she needs to sound like a "real" singer, and she wrote the words and music for several of the songs featured on the disc (through Adam Berry,
Michael Kotch, and
Dave Derby, who are cited as "musical genius" in the liner notes, do a healthy share of the writing and arranging), and the other performers are in good form too, particularly
Silverman's sister
Laura Silverman, and
Brian Posehn and Steve Agee as America's least fashionable gay couple. But the musical moments here just barely qualify as songs -- the disc features 99 tracks, and only 25 run over a minute (the two-minute mark isn't broken at all), and while most of the dialogue is funny, out of context it doesn't make a lot of sense (though narrative coherence has never been The Sarah Silverman Program's strong suit). In short, from a pure entertainment standpoint, you're probably better off renting (or buying) the DVDs of the show instead of this album, but if you're eager to throw "Theme from Cookie Party" or "Glad You Hurt Your Hand" into your next mix, this is the best way to go. ~ Mark Deming