From the Cutout Bin: Pee Shy - Who Let All the Monkeys Out?

Welcome to From the Cutout Bin, where we dig up old CDs that have been forgotten for whatever reason and can now be found in the dollar (or quarter) bin at your local used CD store (if your community still has a used CD store). This installment features 1996's Who Let all the Monkeys Out?, by the unfortunately named Pee Shy.

When I was in college (the tail end of the '90s), the people I knew who worked at our college radio station were really, really into this band. In fact, I was going through some boxes in my closet this weekend, and found that they were #1 on the WTUL Top 10 one week. Yet I don't remember ever hearing a single song of theirs until I popped this dollar purchase into my computer.

And... it's cute, if a little bit twee. Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna fame produced it (his only producing credit until 2006, according to allmusic). The band featured a lot of odd instrumentation: clarinets, accordions, trumpets, and saxophones can be found wherever you look, but there's hardly any guitar, bass, or drums. And there are three extremely odd spoken-word interludes which sound like they could have been broadcast as essays on NPR.

It turns out Pee Shy came from Tampa, home to other alt-rock also-rans Sugarspoon and the Hazies (all of whom got signed and put out debut albums in '96). According to this article, co-leader Cindy Wheeler used to run a bookstore in one of the hipper parts of Tampa; her partner in crime Jenny Juristo had an off-kilter radio show on the lower end of the FM dial.

This album did have a chance: it came out in 1996, a year after Jill Sobule's left-field hit "I Kissed a Girl," which was also quirky and twee. And it was the second release from Mercury affiliate Blue Gorilla: the first release was Joan Osborne's Relish, which made enough money to ensure adequate promotion for Pee Shy.

But maybe it was just too weird. As of November 1996 (seven months after its release), Who Let All the Monkeys Out had only sold about 1,000 copies, and it's hard to imagine it sold that many more after that date. Pee Shy moved to New York City, recorded a second album, Don't Get Too Comfortable, which made #2 on the college radio charts, got played on Melrose Place, and even got a little airplay on KROQ. But that was it, and the band broke up towards the end of 1998.

Pee Shy made at least one video to promote this album, for the song "Little Dudes." I can't embed it (thanks, Universal!), but you can view it here. Wait... is this song about 30-something women doing teenage men? Pee Shy correctly anticipated the cougar craze!

So, if you see this album selling for one crisp dollar, is it worth your time? Yes, if only because it's currently going for $3.25 on Amazon.