With the same prog combination of guitar and keyboard, Angel Dust is a more mature effort than The Real Thing. "Land Of Sunshine"**** is a clever shot at pop psychology or self-help or something. "Midlife Crisis"**** builds to an anthemic chorus resembling "Epic" but directs its lyrics more directly at pandering celebrity rather than a universal but generic emotion. Most lyrics don't make much sense except for a set of images they create:
Drinking fountains are shorter than they used to
The swings on the playground don't even fit me anymore
Folklore: Nobody's supposed to believe in the next grade, WRITE IT A HUNDRED TIMES
After the goofy joke of "RV" the album rarely falters from set of nicely-arranged power chords and riffs, with interesting guitar or piano doodles thrown in. The cheerleaders in "Be Aggressive" and cop show theme of "Crack Hitler" are a bit heavy-handed, and the conventional cover of "Midnight Cowboy" is unnecessary, but there is nothing annoyingly bad or unoriginal, and at least one part in each song, such as the beginning and end of "Everything's Ruined" and the opening theme of the melodic single "A Small Victory" create bright spots in a interesting but messy hodgepodge of an album.
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