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Old 09-27-2005, 03:00 PM
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Rick and Roll Rick and Roll is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Baltimore suburbs
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Just listened to it....

I like it a lot...but there are some holes.

The highlights are "Fly" and "Bebop". It's been awhile since they've gotten funky in a heavy context. "Vegetable" off the last record was about it. "Fly" could pass for a Hendrix tune, and Bebop is wicked. Even a Little Richard lyric in the chorus

Maybe that's why I like them so much. They sound like the Beatles with P-Funk.

There are some pleasant surprises also. "Honesty" is all Ty Tabor, and is the only song by them I can recall having all acoustic guitar w/ no other instruments. For about 20 seconds towards the end of the song some other instrumrnts get added, incredibly pointless may I add. But it's a wonderful song. Ty plays a lot of slide on the record too, very atypical.

I believe Jerry Gaskill sings lead on "Freedom, which has some great lyrics. There's a good mix of Ty and Doug on vocals, which is always welcome.

Now the negatives: The songs are very short. There are 14 of them , but a lot are between 2:45 and 4:03. The 7-min "Sooner or Later" is just Ty noodling around mostly...done much better on the 4th record's "What I Know About Love".

The last three songs are a waste. "Mudd" is possibly the worst King's X song ever, it's just a yawner. "Goldilox" (a remake off the first record) is one of the best songs of theirs, but to remake it and call it "Goldilox (Reprise)" is silly - especially since it's the same arrangement! BOC did "Astronomy" twice..same lyrics and theme, but a completely different arrangement..and both killer. But no such luck here. Finally, "Bam" is an instrumental they say...but it's 30 minutes of music and 2 minutes of backtalk. Sort of like Tool does...and no more enjoyable

And the coup de grace..."If" has the same meter in the chorus as Michael Jackson's "Man In the Middle" When I saw them do that in concert, I thought the King of Pop was in the house!

Overall, I like the record. A lot of rocking high points! But while they continue to have one of the best sounds around, the songs are mostly underdeveloped. I'll still hold them to too high of a standard, cause I know they still excel live and I know they're capable.
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