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MEAT PUPPETS – Too High to Die
Meat Puppets – Too High to Die (1994, London Records)
1. “Violet Eyes” … 3:51
2. “Never to Be Found” … 4:46
3. “We Don’t Exist” … 3:44
4. “Severed Goddess Hand” … 2:59
5. “Flaming Heart” … 4:49
6. “Shine” … 3:50
7. “Station” … 2:22
8. “Roof with a Hole” … 3:34
9. “Backwater” … 3:42
10. “Things” … 4:06
11. “Why?” … 4:20
12. “Evil Love” … 3:07
13. “Comin’ Down” … 6:56
14. “Lake of Fire (hidden track)
Band:
Curt Kirkwood – Guitar, Vocals
Cris Kirkwood – Bass, Vocals
Derrick Bostrom – Drums
Produced by: Meat Puppets and Paul Leary
Um… Yeah. Alternative. Sucks. I didn’t even buy this album, I stole it from my sister’s room about 12 years ago wanting to try something new. I wonder why I never slipped it back into her room after deciding I hated it… I can appreciate some alternative bands, but a band like the freakin’ Meat Puppets defines everything bad about that broad genre. This is stuff Beavis & Butthead should’ve been making fun of. And they probably did.
I mean, this album went GOLD, Jerry, GOLD! Unthinkable. The 90s were weird, man. Okay, I will say ONE positive thing about this album, “Backwater” is a really good song.
Highlights: “Backwater”
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY – Sonic Brew
Black Label Society – Sonic Brew (1999, Spitfire Records)
1. “Bored To Tears” … 4:28
2. “The Rose Petalled Garden” … 4:59
3. “Hey You (Batch Of Lies)” … 3:48
4. “Born To Lose” … 4:23
5. “Peddlers Of Death” … 4:33
6. “Mother Mary” … 4:26
7. “Beneath The Tree” … 4:37
8. “Low Down” … 4:36
9. “T.A.Z.” … 1:56
10. “Lost My Better Half” … 4:24
11. “Black Pearl” … 3:27
12. “World Of Trouble” … 5:20
13. “Spoke In The Wheel” … 4:13
14. “The Beginning… At Last” … 4:26
BONUS TRACK
15. “No More Tears” … 6:58
Band:
Zakk Wylde – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Piano
Phil Ondich – Drums
Additional Musicians:
Mike Inez – Bass (“No More Tears”)
Produced by: Ron Albert, Howard Albert and Zakk Wylde
Despite owning four BLS albums, I’ve never been a huge fan of ‘em. Out of the four I own, you could probably make one REALLY good album. BLS tends to either be too mellow and acoustic or too sludgy for the most part. BLS songs often alternate between being southern fried Alice In Chains and sludgy Lynyrd Skynyrd. That just doesn’t work for me. Another problem I have with the album is that there’s just too many songs. 1o or 11 tracks is the best length for an album, in my opinion. Once you start going above that, you’re just adding filler.
I bought this album thanks to a lot of praise I was reading online, but it’s nothing special to me outside of a few songs. “Spoke in the Wheel” is a really cool Lynyrd Skynyrd sounding ballad and “No More Tears” is a decent Ozzy cover. Zakk’s voice isn’t all that great on this album, he would get better on the later ones, but it still has some charm.
It’s to my understanding that the album was released in the Fall of 1998 in Japan, but before the U.S. release, they decided to do some remixing of the album. So, we got a new album cover (see above) along with the “bonus track” of “No More Tears”.
Highlights: “Bored to Tears”, “Spoke in the Wheel”, “No More Tears”
