The Jerky Boys

Better than The Best Of -- which didn't touch upon Jerky Boys 3 or 4 -- The Ultimate Jerky Boys Collection is the one to get if that frat boy you lent your original Jerky CDs to hasn't returned them yet and has no idea where they are. Nothing new, nothing unheard, but the compilers have done a decent job of picking the pranksters' highlights, plus the discs are fairly packed. The liner notes go as far as to claim "no one had ever released an album of prank phone calls" before the Jerkys, but that isn't the truth. There was the great underground Tube Bar album, and even Jerry Lewis put out a collection way back when. Regardless, the Jerky Boys took the absurdity of the Tube Bar calls to another level and created at least one bona fide legend in their sue-happy character Sol Rosenberg. If a couple years have passed since you last listened to these tapes, you might be surprised at how funny these rude and often vicious calls still are. That the Jerkys still sounded inspired three albums in is the other surprise, but you'll have to decipher all the asterisks, plus symbols, and crosses attached to the track listing, then flip a couple pages to figure out what came when. With recycled artwork and a paragraph of hyperbole for liners, Select disappoints with their lack of effort for this set. How the Jerky Boys came to terrorize so many through the telephone would be an interesting story, but Select couldn't be bothered. Enjoy running your thumb along the back of the disc, too, as you count off the unnumbered tracks to find "Sol's Glasses." The packaging is sloppy and rushed but the material still satisfies, and having so much of it in one place should make any Sizzlechest happy. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide