Mother American Marshmallow [*] - Meat Puppets, Kirkwood, Cris
Embodiment of Evil [*]
Hot Pink [*][Version]
This is the album where most fans agree that Curt, Cris, and Derrick came into their own as a totally original artistic force, where the intricate wordplay of Curt's heat-driven visions is finally matched by the tricky rhy... more »thmic exchanges and turbulent, trippy melodicism emanating from the instruments. When listening to songs such as the whistle-led "Maiden's Milk," the outrageously Talking Heads-funky "Away," or the giddy, rollicking "Seal Whales," it becomes almost impossible to believe that only three instruments could create such a delicate, textured record. It truly seemed that this Phoenix trio had managed to capture the sound of the desert on vinyl--the sense of echoing loneliness, the cactus prickliness, the vast open spaces. This reissue (originally released in 1985) includes five bonus eight-track demos. --Everett True« less
This is the album where most fans agree that Curt, Cris, and Derrick came into their own as a totally original artistic force, where the intricate wordplay of Curt's heat-driven visions is finally matched by the tricky rhythmic exchanges and turbulent, trippy melodicism emanating from the instruments. When listening to songs such as the whistle-led "Maiden's Milk," the outrageously Talking Heads-funky "Away," or the giddy, rollicking "Seal Whales," it becomes almost impossible to believe that only three instruments could create such a delicate, textured record. It truly seemed that this Phoenix trio had managed to capture the sound of the desert on vinyl--the sense of echoing loneliness, the cactus prickliness, the vast open spaces. This reissue (originally released in 1985) includes five bonus eight-track demos. --Everett True
"Listened to this'n driving from El Paso to Phoenix to see The Flaming Lips back in '89. Plays like an endless stretch of scrubby desert. My ex-wife began her ship into evil psychosis because I wouldn't take this tape out of the player. She hit me with a sandwich and tried to get out of the car. It's that good!"
Best album of the eighties
Noisoid | Seattle | 12/13/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This record is certainly on par as one of the best albums of the eighties along w/ Zen Arcade, Double Nickels, also on SST. This is a psychedelic masterpiece...probably as good as Cream Disreali Gears was when it came out."
Perfect
Bruce | Whippany, NJ United States | 07/11/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"How many albums can you think of that you like EVERY song on ? For me, the Beatles' "Abbey Road " and "Murmur" by REM come to mind. After listening to "Up on the Sun" by the Meat Puppets for the past 6 months, it has just hit me that this is a perfect album; I love every song on it.The songs are fast, simple, fun, and really catchy. This record sounds like it is was recorded live in the studio during a session where the band had a lot of fun; it sounds real, not fake. The music is not as deep as the music on the Meat Puppets' album which came before this one (Meat Puppets II) but that's OK, it's a different album (by the way, Meat Puppets II is great and nearly perfect). Most of the songs focus on electric guitar but there are also songs where the bass rules the guitar (Maiden's Milk, Hot Pink). I have never heard bass like this before; it's amazing.For anyone who likes alternative music, this is a must have."
Up on the sun, a really master pice
Daniel | Stockholm, Sweden | 09/01/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"My first record with the Meat Puppets was, Too high too die and that album I really like, but It has some songs that i don't like that much, when I have bought Up on the sun I was in another wolrd, It was the best Album I have ever heard, I have not got any favorit song on it becuse it's impossible, every song is so great, I the finish on the album, Hot Pink (old version) is so great. So for everone who love sad, soft rock this is it, It is worth the money I promise you."
Gentle blissful cowpunk for driving across the desert
Ludwig J. Pluralist | Beacon, NY USA | 12/09/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've long loved the Meat Puppets, and was ecstatic to see them live, at a dinky little club in Madison, Wisconsin in 1988; it was my only time ever in a mosh pit, though, it being a Meat Puppets show, it was a more playful than aggro group of moshers. I had much fun that night.
Anyway, this, along with Meat Puppets II, is my favorite of their many recordings. Later records would generally contain anywhere from two or three to a half-dozen great tracks. But with Up on the Sun, they deliver the goods from start to finish. Granted, it's not as punky speedy as is II, but it need not be. Instead, what it is is a record of gentle, semi-acoustic tunes, with an emphasis on tunefulness. Check out a song like Swimming Ground, or Away, and try to keep from smiling; I don't think it can be done.
Overall, I'd describe this as gentle, blissful cowpunk, appropriate for driving across the Arizona desert after having consumed a few bites of hash brownies."