The sun was spittin fire, the sky was cold as ice, I felt a little tired, so I watched Miami Vice...

In the world of 80s pop-soul, there were weird acts, mostly for the way they dressed more than their cookie-cutter music that prevailed in that decade. Nobody with tunes as weird as Was (Not Was) had any chance of making any success. Who knew. On their third album, the collective masterminded by non-relatives David (Weiss) Was and Don (Fagenson) Was scored with three charting songs, with two hitting the top-20 in 1988. What Up, Dog? frames those three with a hodgepodge of experiments that would pretty much shock anyone expecting an album full of glossy R&B. "Somewhere In America There's A Street Named After My Dad" is a strange enough beginning to the set, not so much for the long title but for the laidback jazz groove. It would've made a good middle interlude to the album, but somehow was pushed in front. Next comes "Spy In The House Of Love", which is miles above the rest of the album in quality, with it's Brit-soul-like production of rubbery keyboard-bass and subtle backing vocals. The lyrics are a really scary prospect ("I'll read your mail, I'll tap your phone, I'm on your trail, you're never alone") but the production sounds so clean and suave that it glosses you over, and even seduces you with it. The album then ambles into art-soul (a new genre?) category, though it really is a hard listen, with toss-offs like the simpleton remake of their 1981 club song "Out Come The Freaks" (pretty much most dance music from 1981 sucked), and the weird JFK assassination piece "11 MPH". Stuck in the middle is the passable pop number "Anything Can Happen", then a couple more tripouts (including a cameo by an annoying Frank Sinatra Jr.). The latter part of the CD picks up a bit, with the campy doo-wop "Anytime Lisa", the by-the-numbers remake of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose" that won't make you forget the original, and the somewhat interesting Elvis Costello co-write "Shadow & Jimmy". And of course there's "Walk The Dinosaur". I remember the whispers that the song was really about "taking care of your own business", if you know what I mean. Actually, I sort of just consider it just another silly sendup of a past genre, this time the dance-song (think "The Twist" and "Mashed Potatoes"). However, put in a much more conventional arrangement, it works better than the other novelty numbers on here, and surprisingly gave the group it's only top-10 appearance. However, as jarringly slow as this album started, it ends with the screechingly unlistenable "Dad I'm In Jail", which maybe was tacked on for some sort of bookend with the father theme of "Somewhere In America...". Hired hand singers "Sweet Pea" Atkinson and "Sir" Harry Bowens each have a great distinctive and complimentary voice to each other, but they seems to be often wasted in the crazy lyrics and overproduction. Since then Don Weiss kept the pseudonym to go on to better recognition as a producer, most notably with Bonnie Raitt (Nick Of Time) and the B-52's (Cosmic Thing). And as a group, the band had one more album (the midchart hit Are You Okay?) before disintegrating, so a best of really mostly consists of the couple of songs on here. Since neither of the two songs are anthologized much (especially "Spy...") it my be worth searching this out, if only to rip a couple of tunes from it. Or get the hard-to-find Dad, I'm In Jail compilation, with all their hits though an extended version of "Walk The Dinosaur".

Grade: D+
Best Cuts: "Spy In The House Of Love"
Weakest Links: "Dad, I'm In Jail", "11 MPH", "Earth To Doris", "What Up, Dog", etc...

What Up, Dog? hit #43 on the Pop albums chart in the US and #47 in the UK.
"Spy In The House Of Love" hit #16 pop singles, #1 dance club play, #77 R&B, and #21 in the UK.
"Walk The Dinosaur" made #7 pop, #11 dance club, #30 modern rock, & #10 in the UK.
"Out Comes The Freaks" (the remake) hit #44 in the UK.
"Anything Can Happen" made #75 pop, #19 dance club, and #67 in the UK.

You can pick up a copy of What Up, Dog? at websites like here and here.

To listen to the "New York Dangerous" remix of "Walk The Dinosaur", you can click here to download (right-click to being up another window).

And here's the clip from the album's highlight, "Spy In The House Of Love" (of course recorded from Night Tracks, ah do I remember that show)... enjoy.