| In A Car EP | 1981 |
| Meat Puppets | 1982 |
| Meat Puppets II | 1984 |
| Up On The Sun | 1985 |
| Out My Way EP | 1986 |
| Mirage | 1987 |
| Huevos | 1987 |
| Monsters | 1989 |
| No Strings Attached (compilation) | 1990 |
| Forbidden Places | 1991 |
| Too High To Die | 1994 |
| No Joke! | 1995 |
| Live In Montana | 1999 |
| Golden Lies | 2000 |
| Live At Maxwell's 2.08.01 | 2002 |
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Walking Boss. LOW POINTS: Meat Puppets, Melons Rising, Blue Green God, Reward, Saturday Morning, Love Offering.
So the Meat Puppets began life as a hardcore punk band, though one just a little too crazy for my ears. The liner notes in the remastered edition of this album proclaim this album to be a masterpiece not only unlike anything the band has ever done, but also in the history of recorded music. I guess I can kind of hear that on the preceding In A Car EP (included among the bonus tracks, though I'm not reviewing it because it's only like 6 minutes long), as there are elements of surf guitar and country licks mixed with the hardcore punk style on a couple songs, but on this 'full-length' (14 songs in a mere 21 minutes) studio album, all I hear are a few interesting fast riffs over a sea of insane tuneless hardcore punk screaming that I simply can't stand. Most of these songs don't even try to base themselves around any sort of vocal hooks, instead blabbering tunelessly over an amateurish-sounding musical backing and production.
Since a lot of this material barely goes over a minute long, it also makes describing a lot of the songs individually very tough. There are some decent moments on here - "Love Offering" has a rather neat main riff before deteriorating into garbage, "Our Friends" and "Milo Sorgum And Maize" are okay attempts at instrumentals that at least free my ears of those horrid vocals, and their cover of the standard "Walking Boss" swings along nicely, and actually has a melody to boot, which sets it apart from the rest of the stuff on here. I guess the other cover "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds" is partly tolerable, since its' drunken feel sounds so bad it's almost comical. But as for the rest - NO. I have to admit there's something endearing about the offbeat playing style occasionally, but the manic vocals and complete lack of tunefulness (especially on pieces of horse waste like the title track and "Melons Rising") simply destroy everything for me. If you're a hardcore punk fan, though, you might love this album, so don't necessarily listen to me. Consult someone like Mark Prindle.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Split Myself In Two, Plateau. LOW POINTS: New Gods.
Now this is quite a left turn here, enough that I have a very hard time believing that the previous hardcore punk abomination actually came from the Meat Puppets. This time around, the band is actually starting to write melodies, and good ones at that, but more important than that is the unique sound they've got here. There's still a good trace of the punk spirit lying around, but they're mixed with country and rootsy flavorings, highly interesting trippy lyrics, inventive as hell guitar playing, and a weary atmosphere in the vocals and music that makes one feel like they're in the desert. Putting this album into perspective now, it's really cool to see how much the band set themselves apart from everyone else in the alternative rock underground, though while this album's style has won me over a lot more than before, I still don't quite see Meat Puppets II as the all-out underground masterpiece people make it out to be, mostly because the quality of the actual songs doesn't live up to the sound, in my opinion.
Nevertheless, listening to the first half is an incredible breath of fresh air after the debut, as this stretch of songs thoroughly destroys anything on that record in quality. The opening "Split Myself In Two" in particular - see, if the punk songs from before sounded like this, I'd have no problem with them, as the maniacally twisted vocal melody is catchy as all hell, with actually intelligible absurd lyrics, and a just as driving main riff. Plus, the solo here is one of the coolest sounding flurries of guitar notes I've ever heard! It's the classic here, if you ask me, though the country pickin' instrumental "Magic Toy Missing" (which sounds straight off of Nashville Skyline or something) is entertaining, and the nicely shifting, bouncy "Lost" (which perfectly hits the atmosphere of a Southwest freeway in the nighttime) are quite good as well. As is the other classic "Plateau", another really melodic and worn tale of nature with some of the neatest imagery on the album ('there's nothing on top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds...'), as well as an absolutely fantastic apocalyptic riff at the end.
Unfortunately, after those first four songs, the album becomes a lot less spectacular. Nothing really bad (even the weakest track here, the punky "New Gods", still kicks the shit out of most of the debut, as sloppy and forgettable as it may be), but nothing I'd praise as an absolute classic. Still, all the rest is at least enjoyable listening, if occasionally a bit too pointless (the last instrumental "I'm A Mindless Idiot" is somewhat forgettable) and raw (the potential shown in the melody and crazy lyrics of the somewhat sluggish "Lake Of Fire" would later be more realized by Nirvana on Unplugged, and "Climbing" does admittedly sound somewhat too lifeless for my tastes, though still at least catchy). My favorite of the rest is actually the repetitive but quite melodic instrumental "Aurora Borealis", whose chord progression and guitar work here seems particularly inspired - I love those little flourishes that answer the main generic four-note riff there.
I'm not exactly sure why I had such a closed-minded all out dislike for this album before, as there's nothing really tuneless about the vocal melodies or that weak about the production job, but I guess my old review for this (where I originally gave it a 5 - ugh) is one of those instances where I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. This really is a good and unique, if somewhat flawed, record, and you can really see what Kurt Cobain loved in these guys to invite Curt and Cris Kirkwood to guest on Nirvana's Unplugged and cover songs from here (besides the aforementioned "Plateau" and "Lake Of Fire", the Seattle trio also did the conviction filled ballad "Oh, Me"). As for the songs I didn't mention, the chiming ballad "We're Here" (which sounds like The Velvet Underground's attempts in this vein or something) and the closing groove of "The Whistling Song" are also really nice. Which, to slam the debut yet again in this review, is a quality that you certainly couldn't find before.
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COMMENTS
[Note: This comment is back from when the album was rated a 5.]
[email protected] (Mike Kuchlewski)
Wow... I think this is probably the lowest grade I've ever seen this album get. I mean the performance is pretty sloppy and loose, but the songs themselves are great. Once you get accustomed to it, the shambolic amateurish feel of the album has a sort of appeal to it. You could take "Climb" and have it re-recorded using several takes at a time when everyone in the band didn't sound like they were hung over or something, but it wouldn't be the same. In fact, it would just be a fairly conventional country-flavored jangly guitar pop song. Somehow Curt's straining to reach the notes of the chorus and the rest of the band generally sounding like they're rehearsing the song for the very first time actually make the song sound better.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Two Rivers, Up On The Sun, Buckethead, Away, Hot Pink. LOW POINTS: None.
The amazing progression of the Meat Puppets continues, as they move farther and farther away from their roots. It's not so much an overwhelming departure from Meat Puppets II as it is a more polished and less chaotic refinement of that album, but what a refinement! The songs here seem a lot more fleshed out in creating that relaxed 'desert' atmosphere that last album occasionally attempted, only with more awesome guitar layerings, harmonics and stuff, consistently catchier vocal and instrumental melodies, superior production values, and so on. The biggest virtue of Up On The Sun, though, is its' impressive consistency - I can't say anything on here ranks among my favorite songs ever, but many of these songs are nevertheless excellent to the point that I could very easily add two or three more tracks to the 'high points' listing up there. The end result is a definite peak for the band, enough that it might even be the best place to start with the Puppets.
What's also cool about the album is how the band interplays with each other - Curt Kirkwood often builds the songs on quirky, complex guitar lines, with two or three guitars frequently going at once, and the rhythm section's minimalism perfectly complements his often manic style-shifting tendencies. Their approach may be simple, sure, but they always seem to find catchy and addictive grooves, and that's what counts most. The first instrumental "Maiden's Milk" is an ideal example of this, a wildly entertaining workout that's got exciting high-speed guitar and bass interplay in the beginning before shifting into country-ish territory (with gorgeous guitar work and even whistling throughout). Even when they display their roots, as on "Enchanted Porkfist", it's more of a showcase of shoving several arrangement ideas into a 2-1/2 minute length, going effortlessly from fast punkish riffing to midtempo guitar layerings. Excellent!
For another good example of their approach here, there's "Hot Pink" - I find it interesting that they ditched earlier approaches to this song as featured among the bonus tracks on the remastered issue (i.e. the addition of marimba, spoken word parts, and even extending it into 8-1/2 minute instrumental form) for the more simplified album version, but the final take actually turned out for the best, if you ask me. The beautiful layered guitar pop song quality (with some really catchy bass work underneath it) is emphasized even more this way, with the surreal, psychedelic lyrics are as affecting as ever (the opening line in particular - 'Hot pink volcano in the heart of the tornado is shaking the lemonade tree'), especially with those charming monotone vocals, if that kind of vocal approach can be called that.
The rest of the album is pretty typical of this style, with a few tracks less successful than others (the not very catchy vocal melody and bizarre, ugly riff of the still entertaining closer "Creator" and the darker "Too Real"), but nevertheless still enjoyable. Maybe they just seem somewhat weaker because of the standouts, I dunno. Like the manic rock of "Away", whose jerky guitar line is repetitive and whose chorus hook is pretty much just the title really stretched out, but it still manages to be insanely infectious - that's how you create a great minimalist pop song. Or the 'pseudo-epic buildup song without a chorus' that is the opening title track - on that one, a classic case of that 'Southwest desert' atmosphere is created, featuring another classic 'Curt Kirkwood is a guitar God' riff, plus more really neat psychedelic lyrics ('a long time ago, I turned to myself, and said 'yoooooou aaaare my daughter...') and a nagging 'not too much more, too much more' refrain right near the end.
There's also another hypnotizing instrumental "Seal Whales", plus more minor gems in the bouncy, rapid fire hooks of "Animal Kingdom" and "Swimming Ground", the latter of which boasts Cris Kirkwood lead vocals, a really cool watery guitar tone, and backing vocals enhancing a wonderful pop melody. "Buckethead" is also great quirky pop, another vehicle for prime lyrical absurdity and an awesome minor key chord change, and the guitar layering on my ultimate favorite "Two Rivers" is positively brilliant, with all sorts of water-imitating harmonics and other tricky effects that I'd go into a lot more detail with if I were a guitar expert. I'm not, but this song still works wonders on me, from the 'unassuming' vocals effectively carrying that eerie melody along, with equally chilling splashes of atmosphere.
All in all, impressive work - and just think, they apparently recorded this album in 3 days! How come even bands in the 80's could record something similarly layered in a short time span (and put out an album a year, no less), but a lot of modern bands take these 2 or 3 year gaps before releasing half-assed generic crap? It simply boggles the mind. This album's actually not too far off from a 9, but it falls just short, mostly because it still seems a little underwhelming at only 33 minutes, the vocals can sometimes be a bit too lazy-sounding, and there are a few too many tracks I wouldn't call more than just 'very good', but that's about it for the complaints. I know a lot of folks prefer II over this, and admittedly that one's less conventional and more unique, but from my perspective, I say this album's a lot better, damn it. Since it's now nicely remastered and cheap, it's also a damn good buy either way.
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COMMENTS
You bet it's a good buy! I bought this album a few years ago when I visited NYC, and when i bought it, i couldn't wait to go home again, as i heard lots of good stuff about it. I was already familiar with "Forbidden Places" (which kicks all kinds of ass) and Meat Puppets II, so i basically had an idea of what to expect, but like you i consider this one quite a bit better than II. The punk influences are much less prominent (if there are any), and the playing is much more refined, and often very impressive. Bostrum (Bostrom?) and Cris Kirkwood also became better and better (almost reaching the heights of the great tandem hurley-watt (from the minutemen)), while Curt continued to progress with leaps at a time. The guitar playing on this album is so amazing, fluid, melodic and constantly hesitating between rootsy and rock, somewhat sounding like speed-folk. It's hard for me to point out highlights, since it's such a cohesive album, that's over all too soon. If i had to pick faves, they'd be "hot pink", "up on the sun", "maiden's milk" and "animal kingdom". A 9!
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: I Am A Machine, The Mighty Zero, Mirage. LOW POINTS: A Hundred Miles.
What an appropriate album title - the Meat Puppets invite you into a world where nothing is quite what it seems. From the opening title track, the listener is surrounded by 80's-sounding metronomic drums, and what appears to be a light synthesizer pattern over a complex circular riff that sounds like Curt Kirkwood has been listening a lot more to Robert Fripp's guitar work on recent King Crimson albums than the underground punk scene. But then, that worn voice singing weird lyrics like 'Big gunpowder falls, tumbles underground / Drops of cardboard water, ancient blocks of sound' comes in. In a sense, Mirage is probably a more polished companion to Up On The Sun, only with a for the most part lighter tinge to it. This 'mirage' also applies to the diversity here - elements of such styles as blues, funk, country, and folk still appear often, but often, they seem to be subtly mixed into the songs with a New Wave/pop rock style to the playing and production quality (moving farther and farther away from tuneless hardcore punk!), making the album more varied than it might seem at first.
Plus, the song quality is very consistent, and the highlights are just as great as before. The aforementioned title track has that great riff, uneasy psychedelic feel, contrasting dreamy bridge, and key-changing funky ending, and "The Mighty Zero" has an extremely curious balance between minor key, offbeat verses and one of the most uplifting and incredibly catchy choruses you'll ever find on a Puppets album (as if this meaningless, surreal 'mighty zero' character detailed in the lyrics is supposed to cure the listener of all their depression or something). The 'answering' guitar lines and ascending key changes in that same chorus are just awesome, too. But even better is the addictive pop glory that is "I Am A Machine", a fast rocker which pretty much itself on a somewhat goofy yet incredibly entertaining and memorable marimba (or xylophone?) pattern, and that's combined with amazingly cool funky and inventive guitar lines for an overall mood that somehow reminds me of the very best uptempo early R.E.M. stuff. That's a high compliment, by the way.
As far as other neat approaches to songwriting and arranging go, there's the slow blues augmented by odd synth noises on "Love Our Children Forever", and watch for the very nice classical guitar intro of "The Wind And The Rain" that almost 'stumbles' effortlessly into the metronomic soft rock main body of the song, which happens to be a nicely melodic tribute to nature. "Confusion Fog" is also pretty cool, an excursion into bluegrass territory within the guitar lines and twangy, airy background - plus, heartfelt emotion comes through well in the tense vocal melody and cryptic lyrics. "Leaves" hits upon another fantastic funky, jerky groove and inventively structured midtempo guitar break, and has more of those amusing 'psychedelic epic' lyrics ('whoever made up the calendar was wrong, it's New Year's all day long...') Complicated manic guitar lines again drive "Beauty" later on in the album, and while not that memorable of a song hookwise, it still has that life-affirming mood to it that sticks, like you're driving down a peaceful road under a gorgeous evening sky, and that's enough.
You could probably say the rest of the album is more conventional, standard-sounding material, and in a sense that's correct (which is partly why it gets a slightly lower rating than Up On The Sun), but other than the rather dull "A Hundred Miles" (which has a bizarre riff, but it's generic melodically, especially the arena rock-style chorus), these songs are very enjoyable. "Quit It" and "Get On Down" are slight, but still fun, singalong midtempo tracks (the latter of which was a single), and the closing "Liquified" is atypical of an otherwise pretty mellow album by being their heaviest song to date. Sure, the main melody is more or less just "Split Myself In Two" slowed down considerably, but the ultra-distorted metal riffage and blazing solos sound like Judas Priest or someone like that. Except you won't find Rob Halford singing such hilarious acid trip lyrics as 'Petrified lizard antlers / Asphalt orange wheel / Dog-eared alphabetic / Rubber turns to steel' any time soon. Strange stuff. But off this rather interesting crossroads, the Puppets were ready to rethink their approach yet again.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: We Don't Exist, Station, Backwater, Flaming Heart. LOW POINTS: Things, Why?
With their introduction to the major label world Forbidden Places being for the most part ignored, the band finally got their big commercial breakthrough with this one, helped out by their aforementioned Nirvana's Unplugged appearance (the Meat Puppets were only one of several alternative rock pioneering bands Kurt Cobain helped popularize, actually) and an actual huge modern rock radio hit in "Backwater". Even better, the Puppets' commercial success actually seems to coincide with artistic success as well - while Too High To Die might not be as all out idiosyncratic as early efforts, and it's definitely more streamlined, the songs still retain a lot of distinctive quality in the oddball lyrics and inspired guitar work (check out the stuff Curt's playing while he's singing at the same time here!), and cover a lot more ground than most of your standard albums from the mid 90's (as most of their albums do, anyway)
As for the songs, well, most of them are winners. The aforementioned "Backwater" is the most well-known, of course, as it has one of the most distinctive pop hooks and chord progressions in their catalog, as well as the trademark comical lyrics and fiery, slashing guitar solos and riffs, though it's hardly the only highlight. The punkiest tune on here, "We Don't Exist", is actually my favorite on the whole album, with its' really cool fast riff, speedy jamming, dramatic harmonized chorus ('what I waaaaant.... out of thiiiiis....') and more really neat cryptic lyrics, and continuing the subject of tracks that rock hard on here, how about the feedback-drenched, live sounding opener "Violet Eyes" (how about them guitar solos, eh??) or the all-out aggression of "Flaming Heart", which actually has a really catchy pop melody that breaks through the heaviness. It's the odd-numbered tracks that are the biggest gems here for the most part, man.
Like I implied, though, the album has a bit more variety than just punkish rockers, as cool as those are. "Roof With A Hole" is actually a successful foray into blues territory, and while the actual melody and lyrics of the song are nothing that special, Curt Kirkwood has always been a pretty fantastic and dynamic guitarist, and what better way to show off great guitar chops than in a blues song? And those chops technically smoke here! Elsewhere, the closing "Comin' Down" is an entertaining bouncy, country-styled ditty, with attractive harmony work and a quirky delivery ('comin' down from the mountain, I have seen the high and mighty, I will go again someday...') and "Shine" is a very nice folksy ballad with background chimes, wonderful acoustic and vocal harmony flourishes, and more quality pop hooks throughout (the 'in the middle of a bottle is a little of the way you talk...' line really gets me in particular).
Although Curt writes the majority of these tunes, Cris Kirkwood does toss in a couple of his own contributions, and considering how badly his drug habit would be shortly afterwards, it's nice that both of them are pretty great (plus the bass is also mixed somewhat higher on both). "Station" in particular is a great condensed tune with an ear-catching pop riff (and vocal hook!) to 'die' for, not to mention absolutely silly lyrical imagery that could only be written by a drug addict. In a good way, though! The other one, "Evil Love", is one of those fast rockers much in the vein of "Flaming Heart", featuring not only a high-quality guitar riff, but also a cool seamless shift to a slower melody right before the chorus and more entertaingly absurd lyrics. Nice to see the weirdness of the guys hasn't diminished too much, as the lyrics within the jangle pop landscape of "Severed Goddess Hand" (with fun 'not I! not I!' backing vocals) and the neat tempo changes and weird feedback ending of "Never To Be Found" can attest.
Of course, this isn't exactly a flawless 'comeback', as it's brought down a little by a couple weaker tracks, though at least they don't affect the rating too much. The most noticeable throwaway would have to be "Things", which plods along in dull midtempo mode on a very generic and simple riff and a somewhat substandard vocal hook, and the following "Why?", while not bad, seems like a rather slight and slightly sped-up take on a generic 50's guitar ballad. Fortunately, both of these songs come near the end of the album, and can easily be programmed out for a listening experience that shows the band in impressive late-period form, and is still a very solid 8, not too far off from 8.5. Heck, things are going well enough for them here that I'd even say their remake of "Lake Of Fire", included here as a hidden track, somewhat surpasses the original in becoming much more fleshed-out and catchy than before. Fine stuff all around.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Andrew McQuillan)
I got this album last Christmas and am just starting to get into it. I really like Backwater and Station and also Why? I also think the one where he sings about the bees flying out of their eyes is also wicked.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: For Free, Taste Of The Sun. LOW POINTS: Nothing, Eyeball.
Basically a more lyrically absurd and darker, but more tired and generic version of Too High To Die, that's what my impressions of this one are. At least, much like the last album, the music and melodies are nice to listen to, but for the most part, that's pretty much all they amount to - just pleasant background music that doesn't make all that much of an impression when it's poppier, and pretty standard-sounding when it rocks out. The band's melodies and guitar work just don't really seem to be inspired here, and given all the problems with the Kirkwood family (particularly with the drug fried Cris), it's little wonder that this would unfortunately be the final Meat Puppets record with the original lineup before Curt assembled a new version of the band five years later. Maybe the album would be better than it is at around 40 minutes or so, as there are some cool tunes scattered around this comical landscape, but almost 55, when so much of the material is kind of bland? No thanks.
Still, the traces of greatness here make up for that at least a little, so I can still call No Joke! a decent album in spite of how average most of it sounds. Coming off of the darkest stretch of music here (the first three tracks), "Taste Of The Sun" is a very Beatles-esque guitar pop tune in the vocal melody and chord progression, with an uplifting mood and a welcome heaviness to the sound, and that chorus is one of those moments in their catalog that should be treasured. The cool atmospheric trippy rocker "For Free" is even better, with effective Easterny flourishes in the main riff and a nice energetic production sound, plus I defy you to get that 'heeeere, before it's been done / the battle for the future has been won' refrain out of your head. Elsewhere, "Head" is the most depressing song on here even with the silly, surreal lyrics, driven entirely by a despairing piano and cello arrangement. It's too repetitive to be really great, but it's definitely another minor highlight.
However, the rest of the album I'm not too sold on. Most of the other songs are okay, with the rootsier pop tune "Vampires" standing out with its' colorful imagery and rich vocal hook, but I can't see how they're too much more than that. Cris Kirkwood's two songs in particular are rather fun listens ("Inflatable" has hilarious vocal effects and an entertaining arrangement), but they're also pretty much generic pop/punk stuff that anyone could write, while "Predator", despite nice harmony work, doesn't really make much of an impact in its' slow tempo. Plus, the album gets off to a somewhat slow start with the catchy but simplistic riff rocker "Scum" and particularly the monotonous six minute bore of "Nothing", whose bland main riff and dull guitar noise jam don't really accomplish anything, while later on, you get the lumbering grunge with annoying feedback and hopelessly lame chorus of "Eyeball" ('suh-uh-uh-uh-uh-ck, my eyeball...').
The remaining couple songs here aren't really worth going into much - they pretty much fit into the category of more standard sounding rock that has a slightly rootsy feel due to the overall Puppets sound, lyrics, and guitar work, but while nice, they're absolutely not some of the most distinguished material the band's ever written. Plus, the lyrics are getting a bit too absurd for their own good here, don't you think? The All Music Guide calls this 'an average Meat Puppets record', and for once, I'm inclined to agree with that assessment. It's definitely worth buying used for the few really solid knockouts, but it's not exactly a glorious swan song for the original incarnation of the band.
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COMMENTS
I agree. The sound on here is a little generic. "Scum" is a fine opener and most of the other songs are pleasant enough to listen to, but the whole record just kind of sits there and does nothing. "Eyeball" is indeed an annoying song and one that shouldn't have been on here in the first place. Not a bad album, just not what you would expect their follow-up to THTD to be.
| Eyes Adrift | 2002 |
Eyes Adrift are basically a 'supergroup' of sorts (I guess), consisting of Meat Puppets' frontman Curt Kirkwood (guitar, vocals) and two lesser known members of notorious 90's bands, Nirvana's Krist Novoselic (bass, occasional songwriting) and Sublime's Bud Gaugh (drums, synthesizers) who have to date recorded only a self-titled debut, so I can't say too much about them in the intro. Here's the review instead.
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Sleight Of Hand, Dottie Dawn And Julie Jewel, Alaska. LOW POINTS: Pasted.
The main reason I'm kind of hesitant to call Eyes Adrift a 'supergroup' isn't just because it's only got one noticeably impressive songwriter and player (Curt Kirkwood, obviously), but because of the way the album actually sounds. Several of these songs could actually pass for late period Meat Puppets with their approach - maybe the more directly pop numbers of No Joke! or something to that effect. Kirkwood also writes three-fourths of the songs and contributes the guitar work and most lyrics, so it's his personality that's mostly dominating throughout. Don't get me wrong - the material is fine (except for one lengthy misstep near the end), but other than Krist Novoselic's three contributions, it's really hard to see what distinguishes this from the modern day Puppets other than the different band name. Maybe the other two members actually do contribute more to arrangement than the credits hint at, though I kinda doubt it.
In any case, though, the songs are for the most part pretty cool. Maybe they're basically on the conventional pop/rock side (albeit with Kirkwood's typical lyrical weirdness and his signature guitar style abounding), but that doesn't really matter, since the melodies (both vocal and instrumental) are solid. Prime example - the opening "Sleight Of Hand", which utilizes an interesting 'thin drum sound / repeating piano line' combination that repeats in the background the entire song over acoustic guitar, even when the melodies shift (cool trumpet playing in between verses too). The following "Alaska", in contrast, has a solid energetic rock drive and a great stick-in-your-hrad chorus, "Untried" has a pleasantly smooth and relaxing country-ish feeling to the delivery, while "Blind Me" and "Slow Race" are good attempts at slower, harmonized balladry that provide a decent diversion here.
Speaking of diversions, there's the matter of Novoselic's contributions here, and two of them are surprisingly excellent. Sure, he doesn't have a strong vocal presence by any means (it's quite generic, actually), but "Inquiring Minds" has a fabulously catchy 'there's flowers on your grave...' repeating chorus as well as interesting lyrics, and "Dottie Dawn And Julie Jewel" not only has some sort of weird storyline between those two said characters, but also a great quirky melody and killer bluesy guitar soloing during most of its' length (probably Kirkwood again). The closer "Pasted" could be just as good, as the first half of the song is a bouncy, folk ballad with as much hook power as the others, but goddamn, this thing runs for 15-1/2 minutes. It's okay for half that length (especially when it crashes into a lengthy false ending), but the rest of it is more of a collection of guitar soloing fragments than an actual coherent jam, and it isn't exactly 'pasted' together well (nor is it interesting to listen to at all), if you get what I'm saying.
That's more or less the only real low point of the album (the second half, anyway), and it's especially annoying when you consider the other 11 songs together run a perfectly acceptable 43 minutes. Sigh - the CD age rears its' ugly head again, and that's a shame, because a version of this album without "Pasted" would probably get a strong 7.5 or even low 8 from me, as opposed to the low 7 I give it here. I already mentioned several of the highlights here, but I must also point out of the slow, atmospheric "Pyramids", with subtle but effective synths in the background, and the grungy and raw "Telescope" (quite a bit of power here for a, uhh, two or three note riff), with probably the most screwed up, surrealistic lyrics here and a vintage Puppets hookline. Yeah, Curt Kirkwood can still write vintage hooklines. Too bad he couldn't have edited himself just a little. Ah, well.
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Dude, you don't know what you're saying. Pasted is a GREAT F'N song. It's a beautiful jam. I love it when groups go into extended improvs. It's a excellent album closer. I can respect that you don't like it, but just because you don't like it it doesn't make it an album killer for anyone but you. Try to state opinions as such and not as facts.
vegwedge
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