"I was listening to Verve Pipe's new album the other day - when this very distinct voice in the background vocals kept tickling my ear. Sure enough it's Craig Wedrin, lead singer of Shudder To Think - one of the most progressive pioneers of late 20th century rock. All I can say is thank God somebody else noticed these guys. Just when you thought there was no more virgin territory for musicians to explore - these guys hijack the tour bus and fly it to mars. This album - which I consider STT's best - takes the rock and roll format paradigm and chucks it unabashedly out the window. It is definitely not for most tastes, but for true connesieurs of wicked hard, wicked funked-up, bleeding edge music - this album will nuke your neurons, melt your melon and squish your squash!! As previous reviews have said - it's hard to describe - but impossible to forget. As a musician You can crash your brain trying to contemplate how four musicians could actually sit together in a room and come up with this stuff!! The drum fill in "Chakka".... the lyrics to "Hit Liquor".... simply the title of the song "Gang of $"... this album is so genius it will TROUBLE YOU how musically inept it makes you feel!!"
Mr. Avant, meet Mr. Garde
Scott Fendley | Zionsville, IN USA | 04/15/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a difficult record, but holds many rewards. The first cut, Hit Liquor, will definitely either beckon you in or make you scream for the door. The structures of the song are a bit wild, less cohesive, yet they work."
I Agree with "I Agree" J Nesker.
Utz Lovelies | Baltimore, Maryland USA | 02/05/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"J. Nesker pretty much hit the nail on the head for how I felt about this album although I will admit that I have no idea who made "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine. I first heard some early STT and thought they were OK. I then heard No Rm. 9, Kentucky on MTV and bought the CD. I listened to it a few times and was thoroughly bored. About a year later I started listening to it again and liked it a bit more. I really "got it" a few years after that to where it now has ascended to my #1 album of all time! The rest of my top 5 is in no particular order (Deftones - Adrenaline, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream, Weezer - Pinkerton, and PJ Harvey - Dry).
One word of warning - a friend of mine whose musical tastes I highly respect listened to this cd and couldn't get past track 4 due to the fact that his ears were about to bleed. If you like harmonic dissonance and tension and release you'll think you died and gone to heaven.
"
A Galant, Gargantuan, Ghastly, Mind blowing Audio Orgasm
Utz Lovelies | 06/18/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album is, in my opinion- the most exciting, original rock album of the 90s. I've listened to it all VU to Sonic Youth and I'm telling you that Shudder to Think's Pony Express Record sounds like nothing else out there-the chords, the melodies, the vocals and rhythms especially. This is the closest 90s rock has come to genius. Just go and buy it. Allright if you really want comparisons I'll try. Imagine Fugazi backing Freddie Mercury's Queen singing dada poetry over beautiful songs arranged by Primus. See! Comparisons fail. In an age where any four shmucks can get 2 guitars, a bass and drums and a mike and call themselves a rock band. Shudder to Think are perhaps the only existing proof that creativity, talent and ORIGINALITY still exist in rock."
Audio orgasm
crusher | San Francisco, CA United States | 10/06/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The essence of what is to be duplicated 100x over for decades to come, and then get labeled "new" and "cutting edge" to add insult to injury.
The fact is that this album was innovative and visionary, and FAR exceeds current bands at the helm of the modern day convergence of genres - the post-punk-prog-emo-math rock bands like Mars Volta, Coheed & Cambria, Open Hand, etc.
Without STT I don't know if such bands would exist.
While aforementioned bands have their moments, STT has VOLUMES... near boundless volumes of beauty, confusion, and sheer rock power!
I could make a recommendation based on artistic merit, but the simple fact is that this criminally overlooked CD is available almost anywhere for a few bucks. Based on price alone, why pay more? ;)"