keepers - 2
You got all the elements of garage here, from the exotic sounding riffs to caliope farfisa organ, but the dark focus of the first album got traded in it seems. Opening
"Bad Vibrations" is an exception, a beautiful slab of doom and gloom. But after that the mood changes to Nuggets-influenced pop, but without the hits. "Sunday Afternoon" adds that whooshing effect from "Step Inside This House", like being from Austin gives one the license to completly rip off the 13th Floor Elevators. There is also the distressing attempt to get too clever with multi-part songs, like "Yellow Elevator #2" and "River Of Blood", which let the band explore different sounds, but seem superfluous. "True Believers"**** transcends the 60's cliche raga to achieve that feeling of the journey attributed to "Kashmir", and the title song**** has "When The Music's Over" creepiness, with guitar squalls and keyboard runs countering the direct bass line, along with Maas' inimitable shriek. "The Sniper" is a solid slow rockabilly to Zeppelin-esque closer, which this shadowy band pulls off better than peppy throw-aways like "Telephone".
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