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"Daddy" is one of those songs that you have to listen to all the way through to really like. It has a great chorus in it that I have found myself jumpin around to in public grins. It's just great! You sorta start with a "Night at the Roxbury" head bang and it builds from there! There is a part where all the music stops and a choir just starts singin and it sounds like a southern hymn, minus the religious part!
"Like You" is also really good and very similar to "May." It gets a bit boring after you've heard it a few times, but its something you can always come back to because its just an overall melodramatic song. There is some good instrumental in it and he muted his voice a bit so that its very monotoned but the overall effect is very cool. It's like a calm, dreary rainstorm.
I'm not going to say anything about "Hey Mister" because that song is so overplayed that I have just started skipping over the track. If you haven't already heard it, you live in a hole.
All I really want to say is that this CD cannot be judged "Hey Mister." Do not buy it because you like that song. Listen to a few of the above mentioned tracks and if you like them, buy it. Everything on here is listenable. Its one of the few CDs that you can just put on repeat and listen to all the way through. It's a real emotion trip and it goes up and down a lot, but it's still a really good ride. I must say, however, and ever so bluntly, that you have no taste in rock music if you do not at least like one song on here. This is not poppy, R&B style crap, nor is it the "pop-punk" (punk music, by definition, cannot be "pop" so that is therefore an oxymoron and completely stupid) that's splattered all over MTV. It's grungy, with some alternative theory, a bit of metal, and a slight bit of hard emo. This album is an exceptional use of instrumental harmony (electric, acoustic, horns, symphony, synthesizer, great bass, etc.) and vocal variety (monotone, spastic, gospel choir, acapella, screaming, everything else). And hey, guess what, I'm gonna repeat again, ITS NOT HEY MISTER!


Best of 2002   July 29, 2002
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is one of those CDs that you look at in the record store, and don't really give
it any credit because of it's first raunchy single. "This can't be good... why would they
make something like this?" That's what everyone told me before and after I purchased
Custom's Fast.

Guess what? This album is actually one of the best CDs I've listened to from 2002.
It became a total sleeper hit that fills in the voids in all the right places. I can say that
every track on the album is fantastic in it's own way.

1. Beat Me - The first track on the CD is a good introduction for the album. It mixes
Hip-hop beats, with catchy classical rhytm. The song is about observational moments in
an unsure world. Letting the world somp you to the ground, only to rise again and continue.
"...you know you have to make it, if it's not broken; break it, if it's stolen; take it, answer
with a bayonet..."

2. Hey Mister - I don't know why this song was choosen for the first single. It has to be the
worst song on the entire album. I'm not exactly saying the song is awful, but compared to the rest
of the tracks, a better single could have been picked. The song deals with a guy that has an
obsession with a "hottie" and likes to really upset her father... blah
"...Hey Mister, I really like your daughter... when I'm horny like thristy, she's a bottle of water..."

3. Streets - Add raw punk with a touch of thrash rap, and you have the heavy riff-loaded
Streets. The bridge of the song is quite soothing while the solo acoustic guitar tears into the chorus.
"...but this is not the time... it's not the time to feel, you have your instructions, now you better
close the deal..."

4. Like You - A slow song with a strong message about loneliness. I believe this song was the second
single, but I'm not 100% sure. The song is almost hypnotic in a way. Makes loss feel even worse then
it already is. You almost feel like you are in that empty house with him....
"...sitting in an empty house, on a simple chair, in the corner, of an empty room..."

5. Mess - I really like this song. It's about a dysfunctioal youth warning a potential love-interest about his
flaws and imperfections. A very catchy song that makes honesty seem like a thing of the past.
"...if you want something totaled, just give me the key..."

6. Morning Spank - Now, this is a very offbeat song. It involves a guy that allows a friend of his to have
a affair with another friend's girlfriend. Sound complicated? Not when you listen to the song. I love the rap
segment at the end of the song.
"...there is no piece of [...] worth a friendship, dumb enough to go there, nothing will mend it..."

7. Skate - This track is very slow and only has one acoustic guitar. Nice little intermission... the eintire
thrity-seven seconds of it.
"...melodies don't die, our song will be heard..."

8. May 26 - When does casual friendship become more than just friendship? Does love determine who
you enjoy spending time with? Do you even have to be nice to the person you love? Why the hell do we
love at all?
"...it's been weeks since I've seen you, months since I've been nice... I never brought you flowers, you
never came twice..."

9. Give - This track has to be one of my favorites. It deals with compromise of sorts in a relationship.. kind of.
In the song, Custom just asks for a piece of someone's love, not asking for it all yet...

"...give me something to hold on to... give me something keep... you don't have to give it all, just enough
to let me sleep.. you don't have to give it all up..."

10. Daddy - I believe this song is about a sort of rebel. A loner that wants to tell the world he's alone and that he
does everything he wants. Nothing gets in his way. He mentions pimps in the song... Ha!
"...I want to be eccentric in the Hughsian sense of the word, I want to be cooked up and filleted never to be served..."

11. One Day - Now this is my favorite song on the whole CD. He sings about his life and how he knows its passing
and it probably will never slow down so he can catch up with it. It's a great song, and the highlight of the entire album.
"...is one day the only way, one day's not yesterday, it's only a day away, does one day even matter, do you think
I'll be ok, what would you do if you gave me just one.... thought... cross your fingers... untie the knot... one... pulse...

a shiver... pull the trigger..."

12. Crawl - Life's hard, and it only gets harder. That's the theme for this song. People have to realize that life is hard and
not take anything for granted. Also, not to let life drag you down, that's not it's prupose... You have to be ready for
everything that comes and not dwell on the past.
"...are you ready to scratch the scars not yet healed..."

13. 120 - This is my second favorite song on the CD. It's also the last song and a pefect choice to round up the album.
This song basically asks the "what ifs" of life. Life is pretty uncertain, and I think it will always stay that way no matter
what. The arrangement of the song is the best from any track on the CD.
"...if I stay up late enough, something might happen, and if I drink just enough, I may be happy... if I think just enough,
I'll see that nothing really matters, if I stay up late enough, something might happen..."


a solid debut   March 25, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Custom bursts out with clever lyrics on views ranging from sex to love and anger to hate.With help from Duncan Shiek,the music hits hard from begining to end with an abundance of diversity.I highly recommend this album to put you in a rockin' mood.Peace, love and brown rice.Yeah,Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Hey Mister, ...   May 8, 2002
 2 out of 4 found this review helpful

...I really like your CD. When I'm hungry for music, it's a Big Mac or Whopper. Hey Mister, when i'm real depressed and I feel like I wanna cry, I put on your CD and it saves my night, gets me right back happy; gets my eyes back dry. It sounds- really good. It sounds- really cool. Mom bought me the CD now it's all in my player. I'm for real, you have to buy it; I'm for real, if your not sure- you can return it to Amazon and get your money right back, I'm sure.

(Oh yeah, if someone under 16 wants it, you might want to listen to the REAL words first. The REAL final line of the chorus MORE than earned the right to be bleeped out on the radio. So did the first line of the chorus.)


Worth Adding to Your Collection   May 14, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

My husband had been humming the words to 'Hey Mister' at least a week, so I thought I would check the album out. I decided to purchase it after reading the online reviews. The reviews are right on: this is a great CD but it does try to cover too much ground stylistically.

The strongest songs on the CD are the ones that have their own unique flavor. Definitely NOT the ones that reminds you of imitation Cure or Eels take off. However, I'll still listen to the album and love it because what's good is so very, very wickedly good. Even if 'Hey Mister' became popular by being banned, the lyrics are just a riot. 'Beat Me' is good and 'Morning Spank' is best at full volume, anytime.

It the whole album could follow those harder lines instead of deviating so much, the album would never leave my CD player.