Best O' Boingo

Oingo Boingo: Danny Elfman (vocals, guitar); Carl Graves (vocals, keyboards); John Avila (vocals, bass); Steve Bartek (guitar); Sam Phipps (soprano & tenor saxophone); Leon Schneiderman (baritone saxophone); Dale Turner (trumpet, trombone); Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Bruce Fowler (trombone); Mike Racich (keyboards).
Producers: Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek, John Avila, Paul Ratejczak.
Personnel: Danny Elfman (vocals, guitar); Carl Graves (vocals, keyboards); John Avila (vocals, bass guitar); Steve Bartek (guitar); Sam Phipps (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Leon Schneiderman (baritone saxophone); Dale Turner (trumpet, trombone); Bruce Fowler (trombone); Mike Bacich (keyboards); Johnny Hernandez (drums, percussion).
Audio Mixers: Chris Lord-Alge; Danny Elfman; David Leonard ; Jay Burnett; Jim Scott ; John Avila; Steve Bartek ; Bill Jackson.
Photographers: Dennis Keeley; Kristen Dahline.
Unknown Contributor Role: Michael Frondelli.
A nice companion to 1989's SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET--which draws on the band's early records for A&M--the MCA retrospective BEST O' BOINGO provides a comprehensive 17-track overview of the band's career from 1985's DEAD MAN'S PARTY to the group's final studio effort, 1990's DARK AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. (The disc includes versions of a few of the band's A&M-era gems, most notably "Only a Lad," but these are live workouts from the career retrospective BOINGO ALIVE, not the original studio tracks.)
With the exception of the soundtrack hit "Weird Science," Oingo Boingo had little commercial impact during this era, but their albums became more complex and musically interesting, with leader Danny Elfman's songs moving away from the sometimes forced wackiness of the A&M material. If you mostly know Oingo Boingo from either Elfman's adventures as a soundtrack composer or their early new wave hits, BEST O' BOINGO will surprise you.