On par with their best
Mark Mazurek | Chapel Hill, NC United States | 12/18/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've kind of immersed myself in the Red House Painters over the last few months so I can compare this one pretty confidently to the others. I'll say without hesitation that this is equal to anything they've done and possibly my single favorite album. 4 tracks are masterpieces (Bubble, Helicopter, Uncle Joe, Sundays and Holidays) -- how many other albums by *anyone* can you say that about? The remakes (I won't call them covers since they're so altered from their originals) of I am a Rock, Star Spangled Banner, and the 2 versions of Shock Me don't work as well, but I attribute this mostly to the weakness of the source; I mean, how good can a Kiss song ever really be ('Black Diamonds' excepted)? Yet even these make for fairly enjoyable interludes between the moments of brilliance.If you like these guys at all, please do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It's a little harder to find in the stores, and if you're the instant-gratification type like me and prefer having the little sucker in your hands when you purchase it you may be put off by this. But it's worth the week of shipping time, I assure you."