Although this verdict is clearly not the result of any intensive mental deep-knee-bends, i’m going to go on record as saying that this sounds “kinda like the Muffs or maybe the Pandoras” but minus any Muffsish or Pandorasish evocation that the record might, in a fit of drunken pique and/or estrogen-fueled whimsy, leap up and punch me in the nose occasionally. Although i’d be hard-pressed to point to anything i specifically dislike about this album, i don’t take it as a particularly fortuitous augury that, after two full play-throughs, the only song that has made any manner of real impression on me is the album-ending ballad “Save Me,” and that’s mostly because the harmonica reminds me of “Just Like A Woman” by Bob Dylan, a tune over which i’ve never found myself overly nuts. If “hey, at least nothing here reminds me of ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’” sounds like a recommendation to you, however, then, by all means, eat til thy belly be full. I’ll keep the Kleenex™ in abeyance for nosebleeds administered via alternate means. BEST SONG: “Bluebird.” BEST SONG TITLE: “Chords and Wine.” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I am holding one of three hundred copies pressed! Consider myself lucky, chump!
–norb (Sonic Jett)