Click to Buy!

Give Me Immortality Or Give Me Death Firesign Theatre Need I point out that THIS IS BRAND NEW ?!?

Audio CD (September 8, 1998)

Click here for reviews of this album.

Amazon.com The apocalyptic comedians of the Firesign Theatre return with Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death, their first studio recording in nearly 20 years. Like their original classics, this one tells a story that is greater than the sum of its satire, double entendres, and nonstop puns. Join the festivities as FT's own Radio Now broadcasts the end of the world, live on December 31, 1999. You'll hear Joe Camel's farewell speech, learn about the mysterious guys in eyeball hats, and be on the scene for the Princess Goddess Doll Drop. Old fans will get goose bumps as used-car dealer Ralph Spoilsport returns to sell cloned body parts, but even (puzzled) newcomers to the Firesign universe should be hooked after a few repeat plays. The more you listen to Give Me Immortality, the funnier it gets. --John Sulak

The label, Rhino Records (Thane Tierney, Dir. of Catalogue Development) , August 31, 1998 This record is why I do what I do. About 29 years ago, my old college radio station (KUCI in Irvine, CA) played a single by Firesign Theatre that changed my life. It turned me from a career in chemistry to one in radio, and subsequently to one in the record industry. As Oscar Wilde said, “Only the mediocre are at their best all the time,” and that has applied to the post-Columbia-era Firesign recordings, so it was with some small amount of trepidation that I approached this album. It delivered on every count: great layered audio that holds up after repeated listenings, an ideal premise (a radio show on the millennium’s last day), and their trademark brand of comedy that will also tickle your cerebellum. I couldn’t be more proud of the “four or five guys” if I were their parent. They’ve still got it. This is one of those exceedingly rare times when I can recommend an album as a fan, as well as a dedicated and cynical industry professional. If you ever loved Firesign, this album will rock you in a big way. And if you never heard them, this album is a terrific introduction to a group which, like the Basque language, exists without apparent precedent or antecedent in a plane all its own.

dblicero@aol.com from Los Angeles , September 27, 1998 Hilarious New Work from Firesign Theatre! If you don't know Firesign Theatre, then you're missing the most complex comedy creations of all time. Firesign Theatre crafts layers and layers of smart wordplay into scathing satires on modern life. "Give Me Immortality Or Give Me Death", their take on Millenial Madness, is simply fabulous. There is no other comedy group in the world that could skewer sports radio, survivalists, biotech, computer geeks, and our television culture with such devastating precision. When you first hear this recording, you definitely won't catch all the jokes, but on repeated listenings you'll hear all kinds of stuff you missed the first time. Having loved the intricate humor of such Firesign classics as "We're All Bozos On This Bus", it's wonderful to see Firesign Theatre return to greatness. With so much comedy out there being a bit brain-dead, this recording's incredible intelligence is breathtaking. This CD is topical, wonderfully funny, and as complex as any of their masterpieces. I found it to be just packed with great lines and asides. I like my humor smart and subtle and this CD definitely made me laugh. Read my forehead, "Best Comedy CD of the Year."

Gwion from California ... isn't evrybody? , September 20, 1998 It's the end of the world all over again baby! If you are not already a firehead, the first thing you should know is that you will get more for your money from this album than from almost anything else you can buy. There's just that much more in it - that much more art. It took me years to realize that the word "art" could be applied to The Firesign Theatre because they seemed so much more than that - but that is the closest word language has for what this is. Their albums are unique in the world - as are their stage performances - another art form they developed. GMIOGMD is, for now, the culimination of a lifetime of development of a vision of our nightmarish world that is so hilariously funny that it strikes straight to the heart, then strikes again and again. I find myself watching my sides split with laughter and at the same time being somewhat amused that I don't know why. To my fellow fireheads who haven't got this one yet, well, it rolls over you like a tank from the first second then keeps rolling. You know the drill. Line up, sign up, and reinlist today! It's the end of the world all over again baby!