"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!


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.


a solid debut   March 25, 2002
Griffin (illinois)
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The best band you've never heard of.   April 6, 2006
Seth Maheu (Winston Salem, NC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I can't remember when I first heard "Hey Mister". It was probably 2 am, being underplayed as great music often is (there's a whole reason for this phenomenon in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink). Anyway, the CD is best described as an experience. For those of you think iTunes, I'm sure you jump around from song to song. This CD practically eliminates that type of behavior, because every song is followed by another classic. Listening to it straight goes through a whole range of songwriting, lyrical ability, and musical talent. Give it a shot.


A "Must Have"   March 5, 2006
R. Hunt (Chicago, IL USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This CD is brilliant. The music is catchy and the lyrics are intelligent -- and at times even funny. It takes a special kind of talent to get away with a gospel choir singing "who's your daddy?" as backup lyrics without the songs getting cheesy. There isn't a bad track on this disc. It's a "must own" for any music lover.