Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II

The seminal Phoenix trio's self-titled debut is one of the greatest hard-core punk records ever made--but it pissed the punk kids off. Whether it was the Meat Puppets' long hair (in '81!) or their set-opener "The King and I" it was hard to say. Yet they were reviled. Still, they broadened their horizons, mixing up their weird full-on frantic hardcore style with some Tex-Mex, some bluegrass, and a little desert sun. The result? The cultural icon Meat Puppets II, a landmark album that resonates with the acid trails and heat-driven madness of southwest America. (As a whole generation of musicians, from Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and downwards, can attest.) Curt Kirkwood's dislocated guitar style veers between hillbilly, heavy metal, psychedelic, and the Oak Ridge Boys. His brother's bass sound is endearingly fallible. A wonderful, eccentric record (with seven bonus tracks!). --Everett True Amazon.com essential recording

Nirvana fans can like it too

I'm one of those people who first heard Meat Puppets songs from the Nirvana covers, so I'll do this review from that angle since I'm sure there are many more people like me. I looked in stores for years but never found a copy of this album, so I finally bit the bullet and bought one from the internet. The first thing that hit me was that the singer can't sing, and that the original songs that Nirvana covered sounded considerably worse. On the second listen, it really hit me: this album is fantastic. The singer's voice lends a large amount of charm to the songs, a kind of rawness and naturalness, so it doesn't matter at all. Often sounds a bit like Lou Reed. The guitar playing is great, huge numbers of quickly changing multi-layered rhythms. To bring back the Nirvana reference point, several of the songs sound similar to those on Bleach, so it seems that the Meat Puppets had a huge influence on Nirvana early on, especially on Cobain's voice.

Funnily enough, I think that the songs that Nirvana covered are far from the best on the album. Buy this album, don't give up on it straight away if you don't like the singing, listen to it a few times and you'll be wondering why it has taken you so long to hear this masterpiece. January 24, 2008

Country rock at it's driest and realistic. Seriously

If there is one album that serves as the soundtrack to the deserts of Arizona, Utah, or New Mexico, Meat puppets II would be my first choice (yes, like Shotgun Method. Boohoo). Granted, it definitely doesn't appeal on a first listen, but some of the best albums offer too much to be taken in one listen, whether it's music that takes time to unfold or strange voices unlike what your used to, or both. Sounds like something you want to listen to? Heck no, and it's a tween's worst nightmare when it comes to music.

5/10Despite that, this album is compelling and actually musical. Sure, Curt's vocals may be one of the roughest, untrained, and shrill sounds you ever hear (at least on songs like Lake Of Fire), but the music here (and his vocals really aren't bad) is the real star. I love the mish mash country /bluegrass with rock. However, if your thinking such music like Second Helping, your out of luck. The music is either frantic, or laidback and occasinaly sloppy. And Curt adds a physcedelic sound to it, like a sun baffling the follower. The lyrics are also great as well. Take What do Do. He sounds so damn bored, and lyrics round it all up. A complete song is what it is, and that's how the majority of the album plays out. Instrumentals break it up, and they are as fantastic, perhaps even more so. Even better, the bonus tracks add to the value, and they are all fantastic as well. A few remakes abound, sure, but I accept them, and after hearing both, I'm glad to have both.

I am quite proud that Nirvana's horrible covers of three songs from here didn't introduce me to the Meat Puppets*, but that's just me and my psuedo intellectual pride (ha ha). Okay that was a joke, but the three songs were pretty much killed by Nirvana, having none of the character the originals ever did. Character floods this great album, and for anybody who wants the soundtrack to the hot-drenched mojave, Superstition Mountains (the Encyclopedia picture looked accurate, ______!), or any other desert, this is it. A bit hard to understand for people who live in, uh, Washington DC, but if you have lived in (or traveled like me, like everybody else in this world) a place with desert, you will understand. Great stuff! Plus, it's fun to listen to.

*Kidding! But Nirvana didn't introduce me to the Puppets. I do thank Cobian for introducing people to this band.

8.5 January 6, 2008

Decent

The music and the lyrics are good but the vocalist couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag. Still, a good album overall. November 21, 2007

I don't get it.....

After attending a Dinosaur Jr. gig a few weeks ago, a buddy of mine got into talking about how great the Meat Puppets were/are. Now that was one band that somehow I missed during the SST glory days, so I decided to pick up this one and "Up on the Sun" to check them out. Uhh, well, just what IS all the fuss about? This doesn't rock at all, there's no decent hooks or songcraft, I played it once and will probably never play it again. Other contemporary stuff of the day, say for example "New Day Rising", just smokes this, as well as the above mentioned Dino Jr. Very disappointing...if you want to rock, look elsewhere. September 18, 2007

stars in the sky and sand in your eye

I read a rave review about the Puppets in NME in the mid-80s and went with my bother to see them in a little bar in KC. From about the third note we both knew the review was correct. Totally different than any band out there before or since. Incredibly inventive and dexterious guitar playing, bizzare vocals, throbbing off-kilter bass and the drums somehow keeping it together. Up on the Sun and Out my Way were not even out yet, but some songs from those were played. Bought Meat Puppets II the next morning and it has remained one of my all-time favorite records. Brilliant record, at times shimering like a huge soap bubble, other times thrashing with the best of them, great stomping hoe down tunes, and melodic, evocative soundscapes that sound like a series of acid induced musical ephiphanies. This is definately the best recording of the 1980's and is probably unequaled since it's release. I would place it in the Pantheon of Rock Records, up there with Hendrix and the Dead, records that changed the course of music forever. Buy it, and really listen to it. It may take a while, but like eating peyote, once you get past the bitter taste and cactus needles a really good time with almost religious overtones awaits. This record is like a musical sweatlodge ceremony. Not to be missed if you are up for the challenge. July 23, 2007

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