Meat Puppets "Lollipop": Album Review Track-by-Track

I don't do that many album reviews, I only write these when I'm floored by something and I feel the need to make sure I spread word to anyone listening-and friends, a record you need to be listening to, is "Lollipop", the 13th Studio album from legendary band the Meat Puppets. I was writing an "overall/glance over" review of the record-but I had it on at the time, and just said "Eff it, lets go track-by-track".. So that's what I did. You can head over to the Meat Puppets Official website to obtain yourself a copy of the record, along with a bunch of other goodies I'm about to go and buy..

"Incomplete" is sweet melody with heavy doses of “New Riders of the Purple Sage” dashed into those weaving flowerly guitar jams..

"Orange" is just a kick in the ass. It's as if they said, “Yea, you probably thought we couldn't kick ass like this anymore, but let these sounds murder all your theories”. It's so groovin' and Cris plays a mean bass riff that's kinda the basis of the tune.. Spacy cool guitars sections going on, all sorts of effects..

"Shave It" has such a tropical sort of feel, lyrics about rivers and sand and in the backround you can hear roaring explosions of feedback right before the another awesome little solo type part of the song..

“Baby Don't” is like an ode to all songs that begin with that line, except lyrics like “Chase that rabbit up a tree/anything is all right with me” seem to contradict that. I mean by the jangly country western influence heard throughout the song-until you reach that blistering solo and by the time that last verse hits everyone in the room's head in nodding. “Lock the door, swallow the key/Anything is all right with me”. Love it.

“Hour of the Idiot” (besides the catchy chorus) delves heavy into a lot of different areas in terms of sound... for example, some of their records like “Monsters” and “Too High to Die” are kinda heavier then maybe the likes of “Huevos” or “Mirage”.. this album Lollipop seems to combine pieces of the bands several eras of exploration in sound, and perfects it right in front of us.. this song is the antithesis of that statement -if that makes any sense.

“Lantern” brings out some solid acoustic stringin' and brings you on a stroll through a dark canyon in a forest(lyrically).. I don't know why I feel like this is a good song for the band 'Phish' to cover, but it's because it's a jammy, “set the fire to the night” type of song.. interpret that lyric as you see fit.

"Town" is a song that I first heard via a Rolling Stone video of the band performing at SXSW. I thought it was great then and still think it is now... the slow moving build to the chorus and back down... everything in slow motion.

“Damn Thing” was the first(and only as of now) single released off the record. It's another one of those tracks I can definitely hear a little tiny bit of the New Riders in there-in the sense of the guitar parts mixing in such beautiful harmony.

“Amazing” has gentle, awesome guitar jangles despite being one of the quieter songs on the record, it still makes me intrigued to listen to each instruments individual sound-ever do that, divide up a song in your mind? Maybe I'm just weird.

“Way that It Are” is another jam I'd consider to be hard rockin' tune that channels heavier albums of the past. Especially when you get a minute and half in and hear that those blistering chords Curt Kirkwood spews out of space with the tribal-esque drumming of Shandon Sahm backing it before the song continues to on to tell us “This Dog food tastes all right”, I guess that's just part of the way it are. Another song I was hooked on the first day I got this was

“Vile”. The opening riffs drew me in of course, and the speed shifts and random guitars running through the song taking place in conjunction with an odd awesome pedal effect thrown in here and there. I really wish I lived in a world where music like this got played on the radio. And I love the craziness that ensues as the song winds down.

“Spider and the Spaceship” is a song I saw a video for a on YouTube months ago from a live performance, and my first thought was “Wow, if the whole album is like that where can I sign up”.. another song where Curt excels on acoustic (and if it's not acoustic than these guys are more genius than I thought)..

Anyway, who knew the record would be so much better than imagined. These guys still doin it 30 years later, slipping into a dark black hole of turmoil, coming out and saying “Yea, so what?”-with this being their 3^rd record since the Kirkwood brothers got back to playing again they only seem to get stronger and more creative-and not in a crappy way like most of our favorite bands do-this is one band that does it right. Please support them, and if you see them on the street in your town, beg them to book a NYC date!