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Title: London Times review
Review: LONDON TIMES - 25 JUNE 1999 CRASH TEST DUMMIES Give Yourself a Hand (Vik/Arista/BMG)They may have declined commercially since hitting the big time with Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm in 1994, but Give Yourself a Hand finds Crash Test Dummies making the best music of their career. Chief Dummy Brad Roberts, known for his unusually resonant baritone voice, has discovered a strangely affecting falsetto to go with it. By playing one register off against the other he produces an intriguing Yin and Yang effect between verse and chorus on several songs, especially the powerful rap-funk rumble A Cigarette is All You Get and the moody, trip hop groove of Just Shoot Me, Baby. Keyboard player Ellen Reid takes the lead vocals on three songs. With a clear, frosty tone somewhere between Beth Gibbons and Beth Orton, she lends a further dimension of mystery and melancholy, most tellingly on Just Chillin'. Wonderfully produced by Greg Wells, this is an album of rare wit and vitality.
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