Charlie is the third album by Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana is a Japanese punk band that is known for playing extremely fast noise music mixed with experimental electronica and pop-based song structures. They have worked with artists as diverse as Merzbow, John Zorn, Mike Patton, and Discordance Axis...

. This album was the first release on their own label, A-Zap.

Charlie marks a change in Melt-Banana's sound, the songs have gotten longer and a more "poppy" sound which would be further developed on the next few albums is present.. The production was also a major step forward since the previous two albums had quite poor sound and production.

Charlie features guest appearances by Mike Patton

Mike Patton

Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...

 and Mr. Bungle

Mr. Bungle

Mr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...

 on the song "Area 877" [Phoenix Mix]. Mike Patton says: "MELT... BANANA!" at the beginning of the song and Melt-Banana have sampled this through many of their other songs including "7.2 Seconds Flipping", "Brick Again" and the version of "Bad Gut Missed Fist" on their live album MxBx 1998/13,000 Miles At Light Velocity

MxBx 1998/13,000 Miles at Light Velocity

MxBx 1998/13,000 Miles at Light Velocity is the first live album by Melt-Banana.The album is not a conventional "live" album: it was not recorded at a concert, but live in the studio specially for John Zorn's Tzadik Records during the band's 1998 US tour. Many of the songs are being played in...

.

Charlie was named after the movie Charly

Charly

Charly is a 1968 American film directed by Ralph Nelson. The drama stars Cliff Robertson , Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van Patten and tells the story of a mentally retarded bakery worker who is the subject of an experiment to increase human intelligence...

, based on the novel Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960...

.

Track listing

1. "Introduction for Charlie" – 3:10
2. "Circle-Jack (Chase the Magic Words, Lego Lego)" – 2:39
3. "Spathic!!" – 2:29
4. "Tapir's Flown Away" – 2:36
5. "F.D.C. for Short" – 1:23
6. "Taen Taen Taen (?)" – 0:44
7. "Cannot" – 2:50
8. "Area 877 [Phoenix Mix]" – 1:41
9. "Giggle on the Stretcher" – 0:49
10. "Section Eight" – 3:49
11. "Drug Store" – 1:56
12. "Stimulus for Revolting Virus" – 2:00
13. "Excess" – 1:42
14. "Chipped Zoo on the Wall, Wastes in the Sky..." – 7:48

There is also an untitled track hidden in the pregap before the first track, which is a cover of the song "Neat Neat Neat

Neat Neat Neat

"Neat Neat Neat" was the second single by The Damned, released simultaneously with their debut album Damned Damned Damned.The single was reissued in Stiff's mail order Damned 4 Pack mail-order set...

" by The Damned. It is 2 minutes and 14 seconds long followed by a minute of silence.