

Meat Puppets
Rat Farm
Its comforting to know that the union of the Kirkwood brothers continues to forge ahead with great music and keeping in style with their hybrid of punk, rockabilly and hard rock even more consistently now within the last 4 releases since they reunited in 2006, after brother Cris' rehabilitation and return from years of drug abuse and temporary incarceration. Curt, as ever, is the main songwriter on this record and with drummer Shandon Sahm in tow, the band turn in a great set of songs and performances on their 14th release. Specific songs of interest are "Down", "You Don't Know", "Original One" and the "punkabilly-grass" number "Sometimes Blue". No Puppets release would be complete without a little bit of psychedelic bends and nods of their past records such as "Up on the Sun", "Monsters" and their breakthrough commercial release "Too High to Die" within numbers like "Again" and the albums closer "Sweet" that recall their "stony" past perfectly.
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There's a maturity of growth within numbers like "Time and Money", "Leave Your Head Alone" and the title track that shows how much the reunion has benefited their creative muse and besides the air of consistency, allows them to continue their path of musical journey with warranted results of artistic importance. Curt Kirkwood continues to reinvent himself as a songwriter as well as refining his guitar skills and obviously, if it wasn't for his drive of creativeness, there wouldn't be a Meat Puppets. Despite Cris' lack of prolific writing, I believe his presence helps Curt in writing the music and unlike most siblings within a group situation such as Ray and Dave Davies, Chris and Rich Robinson or even Phil and Don Everly, where the friction adds to the creative process, the Kirkwood brothers are the exception in that their coupling provides harmony and adds to the creative process in a positive reinforcement. Modern day releases like this, keeps me waiting and wanting more from these guys as a fan and I marvel at how they continue to stay consistently appealing for us "Meatheads".
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Rating Grade- B+