Search - Meat Puppets :: Mirage

One of their weaker albums

John Alapick | Wilkes-Barre, PA United States | 05/29/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As on their previous albums, the Meat Puppets continued to switch gears on Mirage. The band added keyboards and electronic drums to their repertoire which added to their eclecticism. But while the band deserves credit for trying something different, as they did on nearly every album they made, the songwriting isn't up to par which makes this one of the weaker albums in their catalog.



Right from the get go, the band cover uncharted territory as the title track adds heavy synths to Cris Kirkwood's very original guitar work to mixed success. While "The Wind and The Rain" is a great country song that the band does so well, other songs in the cowpunk vein such as "Confusion Fog" and "Leaves" don't measure up to their usual standards. The tracks "Quit It" and "Get On Down" are decent enough but sound like outtakes from their Up On The Sun album. Furthermore, "The Mighty" may be one of their worst songs ever, sounding like something you're more likely to hear on Sesame Street than on a rock album. However, the second half is much better as the tracks "Beauty" and "A Hundred Miles" are very catchy while "I Am A Machine" has a great new wave feel. The slow "Love Our Children Forever" is very good as is "Liquified", one of their great heavy songs that sounds like nothing else on the album. The remastered version contains instrumental versions of "The Mighty", "Liquified", and "I Am A Machine" of which "The Mighty" works best since it sans its weak lyrics. All told, while this is a good album and has a few great songs, it's still one of their weaker efforts."