God Shuffled His Feet

This was an album I considered for my own pick, so it's great to see it here. It's a fucking masterpiece. Every song has its own little personality, it has this rich, full sound with great dynamics and just the right amount of catchiness. And tbh, on paper I should fucking hate it. It ticks ALL of my "oh fuck this quirky, folky, Gen X Canadian hipster crap" boxes, yet despite that, I think it's one of the best albums of all time. That has to mean something. I've even got a ticket to see them live in a few months. I would urge everyone to buy a copy of this album, even if you don't have a CD player. 5/5. A+++.

Whoever submitted this album, thank you. It is easily one of my all-time favorite records.

This takes me back. I loved their first album. Heard Superman's Song on the radio one day, bought the CD, and was hooked. The second album didn't hit me quite as hard, but it's still very good. Nice to revisit it again after all these years. 4 stars.

As any wise man does, I discovered Crash Test Dummies through Weird Al. I think this album is still pretty good. It feels *very* of its time, but it's so unique. Nothing sounding like it ever really came before or since. A fun trip down memory lane!

I almost want to give this album a 5, I think it is highly underappreciated. It captures a 90s vibe outside of the basic grundge that was so important to future work.

I didn't know that the lead singer of the Crash Test Dummies was following this project just to submit this album. Real review: are you ready for an irreverent album that misses the mark? Buckle up because it's 45 minutes of pure torture. Bring a friend and torture them, too!

Once there was this guy who took a trip to Singapore and brought along his spray paint, and when he finally came back, he had cane marks all over his bottom. He said that it was from when the warden whacked it so hard. And once there was this girl who swore that one day she would be a figure skating champion, and when she finally made it, she saw some other girl who was better. And so she hired some guy to club her in the kneecap. And then there was this guy who made his wife so mad one night that she cut off his weiner, and when he finally came to, he found that Mr Happy was missing. He couldn't quite explain it. It'd always just been there.

Look, this can easily be overlooked as weird. The thing is, it's sincere as hell in it's weirdness. It's catchy, it's unique, it's lush, and it is also of it's time while also somehow lasting. It never crossed my mind that this album should be on the list, but when it popped up, I sure got excited.

I bought this album shortly after I heard “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” back in the early 90s. It has remained in my personal rotation for over 30 years. That kind of staying power and ability to remain interesting and relevant for so long says a lot. This is such an under-appreciated album from these under-appreciated Winnipeggers! When I saw someone added this to the list I slapped my head. What a perfect selection that had completely slipped my mind when considering my addition to the list. “God Shuffled His Feet” is a wonderful opening track… personifying God as people ask him uncomfortable questions and get less-than-clear answers resulting in uncomfortable silence. “Afternoons and Coffee Spoons” somehow makes aging less intimidating as it explores the subject in a catchily disarming way. “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” is a lovely example of Crash Test Dummies’ technique of making songs that observe life in small vignettes. In their usual style they send my mind happily on journeys into the uncomfortable. I could go on and on about each song on this album that explores topics like our primal natures, life’s fragility, breakups, loss, arrogance, inadequacy and revenge. Instead just give it another listen and muse amusedly about life’s scarier topics.

Love this album. I can see how the quirkiness and strange perspective, mixed with a pretty unique vocal delivery can be a bit divisive. For me, it works, embraces the humor in things and makes me want to sing along every line. Pretty much enjoy every track from start to finish... even some of the stranger musical experiments have segments in them that capture the melody and hook of a pop song. I Think I'll Disappear Now probably my favorite.

My face lit up when I saw this was the album of the day for me. This was one of the first bands I liked and sought out more music from. The previous album, The Ghosts That Haunt Me, I adore. I love a quirky album with good music and great lyrics, but I get that others might not.

Yeah really enjoyed this, bit of a blast from the past, bur really good alt rock album now added back to my frequent rotation.

That's some good 90s right there! Lyrics for a lot of these songs came back.. yet I can't remember how old I am half the time.

I did like their sound at the time, but never listened to this album. I enjoyed!

Oh wow, 3 in a row I’ve heard before. Also the CRASH TEST DUMMIES? From WINNIPEG? Sound the alarm, It’s CanCon 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 How Canadian am I? (“How Canadian?”) When I was in elementary school the drummer of Crash Test Dummies did a motivational talk in my hometown. And the song is just pronounced “Mmmmmm”- I asked him myself. Surely they love being asked that. Occasionally in December local radio will play their “First Noel”. It’s my favourite version of the song, no word of a lie. Keyboardist Ellen Reid sings lead for half of it, which makes me wonder who to be mad at that she doesn’t sing lead in this album. You can really hear her in “The Psychic” though. Normally I gripe about music in the 90s, but take me back to when “MMM MMM MMM MMM” could be and was a worldwide hit.

Musically, I thought this was pretty solid, but Brad Roberts' vocal style wore thin with me pretty quickly. Fave Song: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, When I Go Out with Artists

This album had me 'mmm' a bit. But more like 'mmm, all these songs sound very alike'

Blast from the past as I remember hearing a few of these tracks all of the time on the 90s/aughts station I listened to growing up. This LP certainly isn’t lacking in personality - once one adjusts to the rich instrumentation and almost theatrical production, it’s clear the Dummies have a distinct artistic bent that gives the album a solid dose of individuality. The heavy reliance on lyricism did tire me out by the end, but there were enough heavy punches of guitar and drums to keep me invested all the way through – the whole effort evokes an English major version of Spacehog which is a fun twist on the 90s sound.

One of these where I'm torn - on one hand I believe these are talented musicians making exactly the sound they are aiming at. I just don't personally care for it. My appetite for the quirk-folk/rock subgenre has never been great. Scale-tipping demerit point for abuse of T.S. Eliot, and for the line "I wonder if my seed will find purchase in your soil".

I mean, nothing on it is as brilliant as Mm Mmm Mmm Mmm but it is a brilliantly weird and wonderful album. Incredibly mid 90s. I miss it.

Not bad, not really good either. The singer's voice is strange, it almost seems like he's doing an impression of someone, like he's making fun of Eddie Vedder or some friend with a funny voice. But I think it's real? The song about ducks is so goofy, I ended up liking that though. Not bothered by the pick because I think it's a fun, oddball departure. But didn't do much for me personally. 2.5/5

Ok indie rock album with one great song (4xmmm) and a lot of mediocre ones. The singers voice is great, but starts to annoy me after a while.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: When I go out with artists

I loved Mmmm Mmmm, etc. when it came out, but never sought out the album as no other songs from it got any airplay. I don't regret it. 3 1/2 stars.

Alternative rock, folk rock. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

This one really grew on me. I was uneasy about the disturbed-esque baritone vocals at first but it turned out to work really well with the indie soft rock kinda vibe. Swimming in your ocean was my fav, had some great lyrics too.

Afternoons and Coffeespoons is probably the best song on the album. mmm mmm mmm is really good as well. His voice is very unique, but it's difficult to listen for an entire album. It's very deep and resonating. Some of the songs at the end of the album also trailed off a bit.

I've always thought of Crash Test Dummies as a one-hit wonder. I always liked "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" but I didn't know it's not even the best song in this album!

Obviously knew Mmmm mmmm mmmm from when it was new, but I think this might be the first time in thirty years that I've even considered that they'd have done anything else. Listening to it, I have the question forming in my mind of if CTD invented the indie girl / cursive style of singing. It's OK. Nice variety of styles, a step away from the "mainstream" of the early 90s. Definitely worth a listen.

Great. I must've listened to it in the 90s but didn't remember anything but 'Mmmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm' but this was really good.

I've aways enjoyed "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". I regularly sing it around the house in the deepest voice I can in imitation. His voice is unique and enjoyable, although it goes get a bit much after a while. An enjoyable album nonetheless. Aside from "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" I liked "Afternoons and Coffee Spoons", but I knew that one anyway.

I love that this has the best of all of the things happening in 90s alt rock while being its own thing. I wish that the album ended a little stronger, last couple of songs all felt like the concluding ballad which I got tired of

This was a pretty decent album and very 90s sounding rock album. It’s not quite grungy but the lead singer has that sound but with more enunciation than others. The instrumentals are pretty much in line with what you would expect from an early 90s album. The lyrics. The songs are definitely different and some are good others are a bit weirder but not terrible. Overall a pretty average album. 6.2/10

Interesting album, like if Tom Waits did rock but wasn't as creepy. Not bad.

His voice is grating

One huge hit, one other good song, and a bunch of (surprisingly good) filler.

Growing up in Canada, I heard of this band and maybe even saw a music video or two on MuchMusic but I've never really listened. It really is prototypical 90s college rock. Saying that, it doesn't do much for me. I think there was enough of this already and we don't need more meh 90s rock. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

A little boring if I'm honest.

It’s OK, not as good as the first reviews I read would suggest.

God Shuffled His Feet is decent, not really something I want to listen to a lot, but it's got a groove and a little and I dig the baritone vocals, it's well-produced and listenable. Confirmation bias perhaps but it just sounds Canadian too :D 3/5, fair enough.

Didn’t think much of this, so I’m suprised to see so much praise coming from the reviews here! I guess I just don’t get it. Maybe sometime in the future I will

3.5

There was a lot of stuff I’d missed in the 90s that I knew I was ignoring at the time. Crash Test Dummies is a weird one because I only heard about them last year, but everyone was talking like this was a big deal band at the time. Had to be there, apparently

Coupla stand out songs

Was a nice little record in the '90s – easily digestible and amiable indie rock – and remains so today. One always liked the title and the more Eliot refererences in pop music the better, but nothing really to get too excited about.

I'm ok with his voice. I just find the general tone and production a bit dull and "middle of the road". Its a bit boring.

If “Kids in the Hall” was a record.

Nah, this doesn't work for me anymore. Too dated. And because of those very prominent nosey-sounding vocals, all tracks seem to sound the same to me.

I think the group, vocalist and musicians have more potential, but the songs don't exploit it. Sometimes I felt like I was listening to gospel with country. Their best track "how does a duck know" Overall it wasn't to my liking, sorry.

Mmm mmm was my Jan when I was 6, but this is proper dull

Bizarre. Just... Bizarre. Over a boom-bap beat and pianos, baritone lead singer Brad Roberts waxes poetic about how a duck knows to fly south for the winter on "How Does a Duck Know?" It's just... Strange. You never know what you're gonna get with this one, but I think I'm good on whatever it's pushing. Favorite track: "Afternoons and Coffeespoons"

Pleasant enough 1993 alternative rock. It feels a bit grungy, but that could just be the lead singer's Eddie Vedder impression. It does pose the age old question of how many 'M's in Mmm? Rating: 2 Playlist track: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Date listened: 10/12/24

Dollar store Eddie Vedder. Genuinely can't tell if this is supposed to be a parody album.

Didn’t care for this one at all, not much going on musically and a really irritating Eddie Vedder dialed to the max vocal style

Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm is a lovely 90s one-hit wonder. The remainder of this album sounds like variants on the theme of that tune. I blame the distinctive vocals.

Vocals like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Nope.

Mmmmmmmmm... No. Spending the first five minutes of your 1993 album playing hackneyed soft-rock owing more to the eighties than to the nineties, while indulging in a cringe comedy yarn about an awkward picnic involving God (a meta-joke without a punchline, but also without real songwriting merits), is NOT the ideal way to open a record that would stand the test of time for me. What follows is even worse than that, as competently produced and performed as the music after the opener is. Crash Test Dummies's most famous song is actually boring beyond its central memorable wordless humming. And the deeper cuts found elsewhere are only deep in the sense that they go... nowhere. You also have the mandatory feminine background vocals on the choruses and supposed hooks, which are so damn formulaic and thin-sounding that they instantly took me out of whatever it was the Canadian band was attempting to do here. But I guess this is quite a cohesive choice given how formulaic the rest of the instrumentation and arrangements are themselves. Is that all? No, we still have to address the artistry of baritone-bass vocalist Brad Roberts. Long story short, it sounds like nails on a chalkboard to my ears. He's obviously a smart person -- honors degrees in English and Philosophy, which does not surprise me for someone who namedrops Sartre and TS Eliot in his lyrics. Yet very often, the man also sounds too smart for his own good. Mock-existential concerns can be somewhat entertaining on paper, at least when handled properly. But here they just come off as dreadful and pretentious as hell. And don't get me started on Roberts' annoying vocal inflexions -- maybe the only thing that's not formulaic in here, yet also a shtick that's clashing too fiercely against the conventional surroundings. When the absurd repeatedly doubles down on itself (an instrumentation that's going through the motions + quizzical lyrics + forced vocal performance), you get the impression of an overkill mode that simply becomes unbearable. I like music of all sorts, but never when it is so damn self-conscious. The cherry on the cake is probably Brad's weird interest for the word "pajamas", which makes me want to return to bed quick this morning... All of it is just so... clunky. I'm surprised. The person who submitted this album has pretty good music tastes. But hey, this person also selected Limp Bizkit's "Chocolate Starfish..." in their highest-rated albums... As Brad Roberts suggests it himself in his cheap philosophical ramblings, nobody's perfect. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 6/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and the production values + 1 for the artistry). Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 33 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 42 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 84 (including this one) ---- Émile, quelques récentes réponses au dessus...