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Rating: In the booklet, it is explained that these so-called masterpieces are by a group named Meat Puppets. I researched and discovered that the Meat Puppets are considered among the best and most influential indie groups of the '80s, so I decided to review their second album (which contains the aforementioned songs) without ever having heard it: FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE!
Ok, Ok, I'll go buy it, don't get mad. I'll be right back. . .
[found it for 15 Euros, spend about 30 minutes listening to it with great attention]
These Meat Puppets really suck! First of all, they should learn to use their instruments, bassist Cris Kirkwood messes up all the timing and plays at random, guitarist/singer/brother Curt has a horrible voice and with the guitar tries to cram too many notes one after the other, ruining even the few good ideas. Those Kirkwoods aren't cut out for music; I'm tossing the CD in the trash, where it deserves to be.
No, wait! Let's say I listen to it one last time.
[another 30 minutes pass]
This album is fan-fantastic! Don't be fooled, like I was, by appearances: 20 seconds of Kirkwoodian music have more brilliant ideas than the entire career of _________ (choose an artist you can't stand). Kurt Kirkwood is the cowboy of punk, lost in the Arizona desert and hallucinating from the scorching sun; Meat Puppets II is country played as if it were hardcore, with an added touch of psychedelia.
My ears can't believe their ears: guitar solos with "wrong" melodies, whistled punk songs, furious fast strumming with more notes than could possibly fit, psychedelic instrumentals performed without effort, heart-wrenching ballads with nonsensical lyrics and other such absurdities, all "supported" by a voice that seems as if it could disintegrate at any moment.
In two words: PURE GENIUS
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Plateau (02:22)
Many a hand has scaled the grand old face of the plateau
Some belong to strangers and some to folks you know
Holy ghosts and talk show hosts are planted in the sand
To beautify the foothills and shake the many hands
Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds
You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words
When you've finished with the mop then you can stop
And look at what you've done
The plateau's clean, no dirt to be seen
And the work it was fun
Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds
You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words
Many hands began to scan around for the next plateau
Some say it was Greenland and some say Mexico
Others decided it was nowhere except for where they stood
But those were all just guesses, wouldn't help you if they could
07 Climbing (02:43)
climb, climb, i always climb
out of bed in the morning
on a mountain made of sand
and i know this doesn't rhyme
but the clutter on the table
has been getting out of hand
i know that you tried to see me through
but honey i'm still having trouble
finding out what's you
time, time, it's so sublime
well they say it's non-existent
but it's playing with my mind
and phone calls don't cost a dime
in the caverns of your feelings
where the sun will never shine
i know that you tried to see me through
but honey i'm still having trouble
finding out what's you
mine, mine, which things are mine?
well i thought i saw a few
before i found out i was blind
and i think i see a sign
and it's saying where to go
and when i get there what i'll find
i know that you tried to see me through
but honey i'm still having trouble
finding out what's you
08 New Gods (02:12)
how much do i owe you?
i'll pay but i don't want to
days of where i came from
in a restaurant in mexico
they told me not to drink the water
and not to touch the food
"all we got is pepsi cola
and we know that it won't hold you
but remember what we told you
no one else knows what's in store
remember that we told you"
09 Oh, Me (03:02)
If I had to lose a mile
If I had to touch feelings
I would lose my soul
The way I do
I don't have to think
I only have to do it
The results are always perfect
But that's old news
Would you like to hear my voice
Sprinkled with emotion
Invented at your birth?
I can't see the end of me
My whole expanse I cannot see
I formulate infinity
And store it deep inside of me
If I had to lose a mile
If I had to touch feelings
I would lose my soul
The way I do
I don't have to think
I only have to do it
The results are always perfect
But thats old news
Would you like to hear my voice
Sprinkled with emotion
Invented at your birth?
I can't see the end of me
My whole expanse I cannot see
I formulate infinity
And store it deep inside me
I formulate infinity
And store it deep inside me
10 Lake of Fire (01:56)
Where do bad folks go when they die?
They don't go to heaven where the angels fly
They go to a lake of fire and fry
see 'em again till the fault that you lie
I knew a lady who came from Duluth
Got bit by a dog with a rabid tooth
She went to her grave just a little too soon
flew and laid down on the yellow moon
Where do bad folks go when they die?
They don't go to heaven where the angels fly
They go to a lake of fire and fry
see 'em again till the Fault that you lie
people cry and people moan
look for a dry place to call their home
try to find some place to rest their bones
While the angels and the devils
Try to make 'em their own
Where do bad folks go when they die?
They don't go to heaven where the angels fly
They go to a lake of fire and fry
see 'em again till the Fault that you lie
12 The Whistling Song (02:57)
It's a shadow in the door
The silver in the park
It's a broken faded bird
You've learned to call your heart
It's hotter than you can seek
Plainer than you or me
I don't pull the lock back
And I dont have the key
It's a poor living room
Just above the dock
Wish those wild hens there
Feathers drip from every corner
It shows the spectacle of falling
And settles to the floor
It shows the spectacle of falling
and settles to the floor
13 Teenager(s) (03:36)
We will compare
We will be king
Gonna be all tongues
We with our us
You with your tongues
Gonna make it to the time
On is us
Is very us
Don’t down with my number; take it
Don’t you wash with my down
The top is very us
15 New Gods (02:13)
how much do i owe you?
i'll pay but i don't want to
days of where i came from
in a restaurant in mexico
they told me not to drink the water
and not to touch the food
"all we got is pepsi cola
and we know that it won't hold you
but remember what we told you
no one else knows what's in store
remember that we told you"
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Other reviews
By Rooftrampler92
The music of the Meat Puppets is like an idiotic laugh right in the middle of a funeral ceremony.
'Lake of Fire' is a gem to be held tight. The voice has never been so expressive, the guitars never so incisive in their 'delicate distortions.'
