American Alternative music reviews

I must confess I was not as impressed by this CD as most people were. I was certainly not as impressed as I am with Mannheim Steamroller's later efforts. I know Mannheim Steamroller is known primarily for synthesized music. But on this, their first Christmas CD, it sounds far too synthesized. On the "Blue" CD (I think it's A FRESH AIRE CHRISTMAS) and the "Red" one (CHRISTMAS EXTRAORDINAIRE) the synthesizers don't sound so...for lack of better words...synthetic. What I mean is simply that they relied more on choirs and soloists. They threw a great mix into the whole project. And it sounded great!

If you're looking to purchase your first Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD, then I would recommend the Blue or Red CD. Those two are the best. If you're already a satisfied Mannheim Steamroller fan, then this CD is definitely not all that bad an addition to your collection (hence the three stars instead of one). But this is not their best. Fortunately, though, as good as this is, it only improves from here.

I was a traditionalist when it came to Christmas music until I discovered Mannheim Steamroller. The vitality and energy in their music is tremendous. Best of all is their double rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, which pulses with life. Anyone should check this out.

Deck the halls opens with album with a synthesizer that gets you into the Christmas spirit.
We Three Kings is played with chimes, A dulcimer, a lute and a pan flute.
Bring a torch is played on a harp with a recorder.
Coventry Carol is played as a duet on classical guitars, very pretty.
Wassail, Wassail has violins with a pan flute that sounds like a harpsichord.
I Saw Three Ships has a guitar along with a harpsichord and violins.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen has a violin along with chimes and a classical guitar.
Stille Nacht (Silent Night) is played on a piano.
Many of the songs have a Celtic sound. Mannheim Steamroller has made the finest Christmas albums ever released.
The arrangements are exquisite. If you are like me and you want to hear many different instruments, you will enjoy this tremendiously.
This is for a more sophisticated listener who wants to relax and hear superb musicians perform beautiful Christmas Carols.........Merry Christmas

Reviewer Lee A. Davis "+/-" , *Plateau* isn't a Nirvana cover. Evidently, you know nothing about neither Nirvana nor the Meat Puppets.

What can be said about this album?
This is one of those albums that re-invigorates your faith/enthusiasm in music (those who listen to a lot of albums know what I mean).
Some tracks from here were most famously covered by Nirvana on their unplugged album, although pained I don't think Cobain quite got the feel that Kirkwood gives to these songs.
It has a perfect blend of songs that make you want to almost hoe-down and those that you can just reflect on and chill out.
Particular stand outs on this album are Split Myself In Two, Magic Toy Missing, Aurora Borealis and The Whistling Song.
This album does take some growing as Kirkwood's voice is abrasive, but this is an album that will truly make you love music.
Do try it, you won't be disappointed.

Probably the best album of the 80's. The only ones that can touch this are albums like Ride the Lighting by Metallica, Iron Maiden's Powerslave, and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and Clairvoyance by the Screaming Trees. This blends the best elements of punk, thrash blues, and country. Meat puppets II will never get old. It is fresh every time I listen to it. It may be one of the most memorable albums ever. Some can't handle the fact II wasn't over-produced like the corporate alt metal crap. This is music as pure as you are gonna get it. It is not supposed to be perfect. That is the purpose to acheive originality, and identity. Have an open mind. Listen to this more than once before you make your judgement.

I am not sure what I would think of this album if I heard it for the first time in 2006. I imagine it would still be a great record, but hearing it when I was a teenage punk kid was a whole different story. Like another reviewer noted about the negative overtone of the album, it makes you look at the material, shallow, commercially driven life most of us lead. The line in Blueprint.....

"But you can still come around, in fact I invite you down, maybe together we can wipe that smile off your face"

That line says everything to me about this album

You seem to be able to appreciate music more when the time and scene are just right. A new movement comes along and, as a participant, you are drawn in more. Fugazi seems to be one of those phenomenom. To be honest, I find it difficult to classify this one into a nice genre. I always detested that, since it limits one's own ability to appreciate art such as this. But for all intesive purposes, This one is rock.

Repeater is a chilling record since it seems to describe every aspect of life in a very negative fashion. This is great, since life is not always full of ups and down. However, rather than moan about the consequences, Repeater tells the listener to face the problems head on in order to be a stronger overall person. At least, that's what I got from it.

The compositions on Repeater are nothing short of amazing. With songs like Blueprint, Repeater and Shut the Door, this is classic album since it follows a true simple rule: Great Songs = Great Albums. You will feel the absolute need to shout out the lyrics as they come to you because they are filled with such intense emotion, it's hard not to relate to the songs.

Every instrument, every vocal, just comes into place. It's what i call Kyussism. The proper notes are played at just the right time and just the right place, that it is hard to imagine the songs on this album any different. Any modifications to the songs would not have been as great. But if you could imagin, for just one second, recording an album and having all the necessary instruments play just right for about 1 hour while you are recording, then you will see just how utterly amazing this album is. Without a doubt, one of the best records to hit my ears ever.

Fugazi were one of the last true punk bands of the '90s, though to associate them with straightforward 3-chord punk rock would be somewhat misleading. Ian McKaye, Guy Picciotto (of Minor Threat, Embrace and Rites Of Spring respectively) and the rhythm team of Brendan Canty and Joe Lally played music that both abandoned the genre's limitations and celebrated its anti-corporate DYI ethos. While bands like Green Day and Offspring were watering punk down into commercially accessible territory, Fugazi stayed defiant while constantly refining their sound.

Repeater is perhaps the band's high-water mark, expanding and improving the template laid down by their debut 13 Songs. The dual-vocalist approach was finally crystallized (Guy's singing sounds more confident on this album), the lyrics became more assured and intelligent (not to say 13 Songs was lagging in this respect), and the songwriting is tighter. Lally and Canty's rhythm playing is top-notch, punching out dub-inspired grooves and angular beats with ablomb in a manner that recalls Gang Of Four at their best. The twin guitars crash, plink, and screech all over the dynamic stop/start/loud/quiet rhythms, establishing that MacKaye/Picciotto are not only great vocalists--they may have been one of alternative/punk's best guitar duos (up there with Lee and Thurston of Sonic Youth).

Turnover kicks off the album with a cautious report of feedback leading into an excellent Guy song (I love how he sings against the rhythm on the second verse). The title track throws a pounding jungle pulse over Ian's rants. Merchandise is the band's manifesto--it speaks for itself ("You are not what you own!"). Sieve-Fisted Find sports more Guy vocals over a RAD bassline. My favorite, Blueprint starts quietly with an instantly memorable repeated guitar figure before exploding into another Fugazi classic. Shut The Door closes the LP with Ian's haunting observation of domestic abuse. The 3 Songs EP adds an instrumental (Joe #1), the solid Song #1, and Break-In which is perhaps the most hardcore-sounding track on the album.

Fugazi are no more, which is too bad but fortunately they have left a discography that (along with Helmet) laid the foundation for post-hardcore. Repeater is punk with heart, balls, and a brain. Get it.

Firstly, CATHOLIC BLOCK (I'VE GOT A) is one of their best songs, by far. there are other great songs on here as well, COTTON CROWN, HOT WIRE MY HEART, SCHIZOPHRENIA, TUFF GNARL, and PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY all come to mind. but generally this album is not that listenable to me as a whole because of the monotonous overly-punk-styled vocals. still, it's a good album. just not where i'd introduce someone to SY.

While Sonic Youth have earned their share of detractors over the past couple decades, there's no denying that they've been responsible for some of the most fiercely individualistic music of that time, and those who love their occasionally inviting, occasionally ugly, but always intriguing sound should find Sister to be among their best efforts. After several albums seemingly devoted to freaking out as many people as possible, Sister was the Youth's most blatant early flirtation with conventional rock songwriting. It was still a far cry from the mature, almost pastoral work of the band's current autumnal phase, but Sister saw the Youth moving past the self-consciously avant-garde stylings of their early albums to create a much more accessible, immediate, and listenable sound.

Where Confusion is Sex, Bad Moon Rising, and EVOL were as much curiosities as they were works of art, Sister was probably the first Sonic Youth album where the songwriting spoke for itself, succeeding solely as music rather than as a middle finger to the establishment. There were some good songs on their old albums, no doubt, but it was here, unhindered by the quasi-musical experiments that characterized much of their earlier career, that the Youth came up with a batch of great songs like they would on Daydream Nation, Goo, Dirty, and the more recent Murray Street and Sonic Nurse.

Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo still took the lead with their odd mix of fragile microtonalities and dizzying noise storms, but this time around their patented form of guitar abuse was married to memorable melodies and even the occasional hook. Steve Shelley, whom I've long considered to be a tragically underrated drummer, was also in extremely fine form here; the more I listen to this album, the more I appreciate how his beats drive the songs' peaks and valleys in intensity rather than just mirroring them. For an illustration, just check out Stereo Sanctity, where his drumming is all pounding aggression in the louder moments before turning to jazzy precision for the quieter ones. While a lot is made of Thurston and Lee's innovations on guitar, Steve's constant powerful presence on the kit does just as much, if not more, to separate Sonic Youth from pretty much every other underground band of their time. If you listen to SY immediately before or after listening to say, the Pixies, the difference is that much more pronounced.

Foreshadowing the more rocking direction they'd take as the '80's turned into the '90's, the band was at its best on this album when it ratcheted up the intensity-propulsive, swirling tracks like Catholic Block, Stereo Sanctity, and White Cross are all quintessential Sonic Youth songs that helped write the book on alternative rock well before Nirvana made the label fashionable. That said, the band also impresses with slower, looser pieces like the brilliant opener Schizophrenia and Kotton Krown, which turn the volume down a couple notches but sacrifice none of the complexity and noisy experimentation. Even Pacific Coast Highway, one of the obligatory Kim Gordon songs, is excellent in spite of her, erm, limitations as a vocalist, with feedback-drenched guitars scraping in the background behind her freaky, half-sung-half-spoken mantras. Just for good measure, they included a cover as well, in the form of an eyebrow-singeing version of Crime's Hotwire my Heart that gives you a nice idea of what the Youth would've sounded like if they'd taken a more straightforward route. But of course, straightforwardness has never really been SY's emphasis, and we fans are all the better off for it.

Sonic Youth is one of the more influential and revered bands of the last 20 years. They are rightfully known as the Godfathers of Indie Rock. I can think of no other band that has been consistently putting out quality music for as long as Sonic Youth. Some bands manage to string together 2 or 3 good albums, but then tend to fade into obscurity, break-up, or start to suck. Amazingly, Sonic Youth have yet to succumb to any of those fates. They have had the occasional slump (the mid-to-late 90's), yet they are still here- producing worthwhile, quality albums. In my mind, their creative peak was the late 80's; when they put out the amazing trilogy of `Evol', `Sister', and `Daydream Nation'. I love this band and own every single one of their albums. That being said, `Sister' is my favorite.
`Sister' was initially released on SST records in 1987, and in my mind stands as the quintessential Sonic Youth release. There is a mythic, mystical undercurrent pulling the listener thru this delicious album. It is hard to quantify and explain. The guitar interplay of Thurston and Lee is something special- at times beautifully melodic, dissonant, violent, loving, and ethereal. These songs really speak to me.
This awesome work open with `Schizophrenia' (you really need to hear this song live sometime). I like how both Kim and Thurston share vocals on this track- something they should do more often, which they do in fact numerous times on `Sister'. Lyrically this is one of Sonic Youth's finest efforts, which should be no surprise to anyone when they realize that the Youth were heavily into Philip K. Dick at the time this album was written. Feelings of insanity, isolation, loneliness, chaos, and love pervade `Sister'- for these were all themes with which Dick was intimately familiar. A number of Sonic Youth's best tracks appear on this album. `Stereo Sanctity' is dissonant, delirious, and wonderful. This is followed by the reflective and mysterious `Pipeline/ Kill Time', which makes use of Lee's poetic lyrics, rolling drums, and incredible feedback control. After this amazing track comes `Tuff Gnarl', which ends with a devastating and divinely dissonant guitar frenzy. Maintaining the momentum, next up is `Pacific Coast Highway', one of Kim Gordon's best tracks- she sounds genuinely scary at the outset, which serves as a perfect lead-in to more guitar beauty. This stretch here- tracks 4 through 7, marks one of the best I have heard on ANY album.
`Cotton Crown' follows `Hot Wire My Heart' (which I could've done without). `Cotton Crown' is the closest thing Sonic Youth has to a love song, but don't let that deter you- I HATE love songs. The instrumental section in the middle of this song is a thing of beauty and power. Dissonant guitars have never sounded so soothing (with the exception of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless). `White Cross' follows this gem, ending the album on a rocking note. `Master-Dik' actually ends this version of `Sister' (I don't think it was on the original SST version). `Master-Dik' is a VERY tongue-in-cheek Sonic Youth take on Hip Hop, complete with lots of distorted guitars and even a KISS sample.
If you are only familiar with recent Sonic Youth, and you find yourself wishing they would rock out more, than you need this album. This is probably the Youth's most rocking album. The guitar is blistering throughout. And all though it is blistering, distorted, and dissonant; it is highly soothing and quite trance inducing at times. The guitar interplay here paved the way for the amazing sonics exhibited on their next album, the undisputed masterpiece- `Daydream Nation'.
The song writing on `Sister' is some of their best- cosmically poetic and mystically enchanting. This, in conjunction with the otherworldly music make for a fascinating listen. If you like Sonic Youth, but have yet to get this album, you must do so immediately. If you are only familiar with major label Youth (post-Goo), then you must IMMEDIATELY get this incredible album. And finally, if you are curious about Sonic Youth, but have yet to delve into their daunting catalogue, this might not be the best place to start. `Goo' & `Daydream Nation' might be better jumping off points. However, if you are musically adventurous, a guitarist, or a fan of interesting rock, you will most likely love this wonderfully dissonant work. After many years, and hundreds upon hundreds of CD's and vinyl albums, `Sister' remains one of my favorites.

Here's to all you retarted reviewers out there (not literally) that reviewed this and other titles after one listen: you suck, you're garbage. Now, to the real deal...

This is a semi-antichritian, hate-and-love throwdown. They can also sing like the gods they most likely don't worship. This band has it all, but it may not fit together properly--sort of like the situation with Audioslave where they are close to awesome and they could be there if they would just lean in the right direction rather than stumble down the other path. That kinda stuff is not enough to ruin this cd, in fact, it is still nearly awesome. And if you sing along to the dark-but-sweet lyrics, maybe you won't even notice how it sounds like Edwin McCain singing for the Toadies (can you imagine the "I'll Be" guy singing the Toadies' "Possum Kingdom": that's like what this is). Anyway, the parts are great so the combination is still good.

8Stops7 made an awesome album in their CD, "Moderation." It isn't filled with just a few good singles, but the whole CD is filled with excellent songs. The lyrics are great in their songs, and their is always a great expression of energy and emotion in each work. This is one of the best CD's that I've ever listened to and I highly recommend that you sit and listen to it for a little while, you wont regret it (if you're any sort of fan of alt. rock)!

i love in moderation but they have new album called bend .8Stops7 announces their new independently produced and distributed release "BEND"

Released in 1996, this could be considered moe.'s second studio album or their fourth. The sound quality is very good. It is 58 minutes long, but the last four minutes is just a bunch of noise like someone scratching on a screen.

There are some good songs on this and some bad. It is not a jam album, but it is played mostly in the style that moe. plays in concerts. There are no jam and there is only one song longer than 10 minutes. But, it does have the good rock sound that you like about moe.'s live performances. It isn't a stripped down, song centered bore like Dither.

It starts out with the very embarrassing She Sends Me. This sounds like one of those psychodelic pop love songs from the sixties. There are a couple of other juvenile sounding tracks on the CD. Spine of the Dog sounds like a silly song the Phish would do.

There are some very good tracks on this CD, like 32 Things and Four (except for the 4 minutes of noise at the end).

However, for the most part I think you can get better versions of these songs on the live albums. It isn't because of the jamming that the songs are better on the live albums. It is because they play the songs in a more straight ahead rock style, with more energy.

I wouldn't really recommend buying this CD. It isn't bad....I just recommend buying the live CD's.

Some of the songs on this CD are on other moe. studio CD's. moe. reminds of some of the eighties New Wave bands, back in the days of EP's and the dawn of CD's. Groups would release independent albums and EP's (short albums) as they were getting started. After the got a major recording contract and hit the big time, they would take old songs and put them on to new albums (sometimes the songs would be reworked). moe. was like that, which is why the first 4 studio albums have many of the same songs.

Having owned all of moe.'s studio albums (before my CD collection got stolen -- grrr) and seen them live at least 4 times, I can honestly say No Doy is the album they've released that does the best job of bridging the live/studio gap. There's enough energy on this CD that you just can't help but sing along (occasionally loudly, hopefully in an empty car) as if you're at one of their live shows. Honestly, I can't tell you how many times I've played "Rebubula" only to re-play it another one or two times -- in a row. If you've never heard moe. before, definitely start here. (These songs are also some of their best when performed live, so this is handy material to be familiar with!) And if you HAVE heard them before and you don't own this CD yet... you'd better get on that. Order it now.

What blows my mind about moe. is that they can jam for twenty mintues (without boring the crowd to death), then bust out a fat beat, then rock it, all with flawless transitions that somehow make sense. Moth, Spine of a Dog, Saint Augustine, She Sends Me, are all fantastic songs. Actually, the entire album is bangin. If you like jams but don't like Phish, and Widespread Panic bores you, dig this.

I just gave 5 stars. I don't do that. As so many were, I was infatuated with Green Grass and Town Halls when this came out. I bought it and was dismayed that there were no Olesons. Then I gave a serious listed and POW. Right in the kisser. Louris unleashed. I could go on about every song. I won't. I will mention 'Stick In The Mud'. Possibly one of the best songs written post Beatles.

Sometimes there lies in the rough a true diamond. I dont know how I came to hear this - I am not an Alt.country fan by and large but I wouldn't want to categorize this at all - just listened and listened and listened. It gets better and still seems timeless, beautiful lyrics, great music, vocals and I would figure its the best Jayhawks album by far. No filler, pure class all the way through and if you need something life affirming take a chance on this. It still blows my mind after all these years

Gary Louris had to steer the ship, after initially suggesting Olson's departure was the end of this band. What a smart move. His ascending to the conductor's chair was steady from the time he joined the band, and this album rewards the other members of the band for sticking around. There is truly a band sound that backs up the Louris songs here. Though the alt-country Olson harmonies are sorely missed, this slight change of direction actually works to bring out more of Gary's strengths outside of his fantastic guitar work, and, also reaffirms the band sound that was coming along with Tommorrow the Green Grass. Delightful for anyone who loves to listen to an album the old-fashioned way: Just put it on and play it through.

I found this CD for $2 in my favourite record store and got purely on the basis of Desperately Wanting. As I listened to it, I instantly fell in love with nearly all the songs, particularly King of New Orleans and Still Life with Cooley. It does not disappoint.

Obviously affected by the widespread success of the harder grundge sound, BTE followed suit with similar peers, Counting Crows, and released a harder sophomoric album.

While some may brush it off simply for following the sonic trend at the time, the result here are some of the best songs created in the 96, 97 time period.

The harder sound invigorates and exacerbates Kevin's emotional lyrics, and overall this makes for a truly rewarding, full sounding album as a whole.

I just recently rediscovered this band. I had heard their mega-hit "Good" a long time ago, not realised it was them until now, and then picked up this CD. At first, I wasn't too keen on some of the songs, but now each song is great in it's own way. Kevin Griffin has a great voice.

King of New Orleans - This is the kind of song that becomes an instant classic. Everyone loves this song because it's just like that. It has catchy guitar riffs and a catchy chorus.

Rewind - I think this is the closest BTE ever comes to pop. Trust me, BTE IS NOT POP. This is another super-catchy song that's just as loud and gritty as 'King of New Orleans.'

Long Lost - The chorus of this song is definitely something I'll not forget. Kevin Griffin shows his range in this song. It has a more melancholy tone than the previous two songs.

Normal Town - Dude, this song has a flute solo in it. It sounds crazy, but it works for the song really well. While this song isn't one of my favourites on the CD, it is still a good listen.

Scared Are You? - This is one of my favourite tracks. The lyrics are great, the riffs are great. This is a highlight track for sure.

Return of the Post Moderns - This was influenced by the 90's. It borders more on the political side oddly enough. It's a bit strange, but it does grow on one.

Hung the Moon - This has the perfect grunge feel to it. It starts off with the amps turned all the way up with plenty of distortion. Another instant classic.

Desparately Wanting - This is a really catchy track. It starts off toned down and gradually picks up. It's another track that's guaranteed popularity like 'King of New Orleans.'

Still Life With Cooley - This almost gives the impression of being country until you reach the end of the track. At the end, you get a classic Ezra sound like in 'Hung the Moon.' Another strong song by Kevin Griffin.

WWOZ - This is another favourite. It's a great ballad.

Happy Endings - This is like 'WWOZ,' but it does have its differences. I love the lyrics of this one.

Speeding Up to Slow Down - This has the feel of an epic: it starts off slowly and builds up to a huge climax. Great song.

At Ch. Degualle, Etc. - This is an instrumental. It has some great guitar work in it, and the brass that comes in later sounds great with the band. They did some very creative arrangements on this instrumental.

There is another segment on after the instrumental where it sounds like Kevin is singing in maybe French? Anyway, that's another good song. It's a live track and it sounds like the band was doing some improvisation. It sounds great. I wish I could see them live!

This is a great CD. Go out and listen to this band. They are so hard-working. They are another one of those under-rated 90's bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket or others.

I'm a big SY fan, but this wasn't one of the first albums of theirs i got, thinking it to be overhyped and perhaps too overly commercial, if that was possible. So then I bought it, and I liked some of the songs, especially the very palatable KOOL THING, the rocking DIRTY BOOTS, and the spiraling DISAPPEARER. and other than those, this album mostly just collected dust for a while. This felt like a SY that belonged to someone else-- someone with a skateboard. But then I put it back in and, especially after the Goo Remasters came out recently, I haven't been able to put it down. TUNIC is a great song about karen carpenter, and i listen to it all the time. MY FRIEND GOO is a good, playful song, and TITANIUM EXPOSE kicks. and the rest of the songs except SCOOTER&JINX also are very good. One thing worth mentioning is that the Remasters have a really amazing song called "Lee #2" which is probably now one of my favorites that he's ever made, and i can't figure out why it wasn't put on the album in the first place!

Inspired by the New York art scene, Sonic Youth bludgeoned their way into the rock and roll world courtesy of SST Records, which handled all their material up to "Goo", which is now considered an alt-rock classic.
Sonic Youth specialize in a peculiar blend of detuned and unconventionally tuned guitars, swirling in feedback, distortion and volume. Far from being nothing but a metallic shriek, SY somehow manage to work in bits of beauty, albeit the kind that extra-terrestrials probably dig, a solid beat thanks to Steve Shelley, one of rock's best drummers, and vocals that scream, moan, whisper and croon.
"Dirty Boots" opens with an almost ethereal intro until bassist Kim Gordon bulls her way in with fuzz bass and Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo slam away at their guitars, creating sounds that captivate as well as maim.
We progress through a homage to Karen Carpenter (!?), a guest rap by Chuck D. and a glorious feedback symphony with "Mote" that churns and burns, making the listener fear his stereo may overload and combust into flames.
"Disappearer" is the most accessible tune before closing with "Scooter + Jinx" and "Titanium Exposure".
"Goo" and Sonic Youth are not for the faint hearted. Music should reflect all our emotions and SY, with every release, somehow capture the sound of chaos, the beauty of parallel worlds and lyrics of urban life. The fact that they have survived for a couple of decades now shows that there is a need for this special kind of noise in each one of us.

This is definitely one of those albums that will grab you and hang on for the ride. Weird, quirky, groovin', heavy, fun and of course way Kool... For anyone who digs alternative, rock or grunge... Goo should definitely be on your to do list.

Subverting the ideology of a typical country or rock band, Cowboy Mouth is an interesting blend of the two. For this reason they have far too little airplay because America can't define them. And so, you, the consumer, should check out this band anyway because sometimes the best things cannot be defined.

I LOVE this band!! I went to a live show, not even knowing who they were. Fred ended up coming out into the audience and sitting in my lap! When he says everybody up, he means EVERYBODY UP!! I was converted quickly. They are awesome LIVE, but you can have to next best thing, your CD player loaded with Cowboy Mouth. This CD is worth every penny. Highly recommended!!!

I've been a Cowboy Mouth fan for 10 years, and this is by far the best CD they've put out. You'll even notice that subsequent albums have cuts from this very CD!!! This is the classic CM sound that most fans remember and love - the great acoustic sounds, the phenomenal lyrics. If you've never heard of Cowboy Mouth before, buy this CD and then buy all the others to compare and enjoy. If you've only seen Cowboy Mouth Live, yes you could just buy the live album to reminisce, but this is where it all got started (respects, of course, to Mercyland). And if you're like me, and have owned 2 other copies of this CD and have loaned them out over the years only to never see them again...buy this one again so that you can remember how much fun it was to listen to the first (two or three) time(s).