I haven’t really followed the Me@t Puppets to any extent. In
fact, the only records of theirs I know are their self-titled debut, a
beautiful and filthy piece of punk rock noise, and their sophomore effort Me@t
Puppets II (The one with those songs they did with that shitty gutter punk bank
for MTVs unplugged series). After surviving two break-ups, gunshot wounds,
severe drug addictions and not seeing each other for more than 15 years, the
Kirkwood brothers have returned with their thirteenth album as the Meat Puppets
entitled ‘Lollipop’. The most striking feature of this record is how Curt and
Cris Kirkwood, both now in their 50s after starting the MPs 31 years ago, are
still able to produce music with such vitality. Apparently, much of their
output between MPII and ‘Lollipop’ has been mostly free-form jams and drug
induced sound exploration. This is certainly not the case on ‘Lollipop’.
Instead, the MPs have stuck with twelve concise, traditionally structured rock songs.
Even in their early days the MPs embraced their country/blues influences and
this is still quite prominent in their sound. I was also very pleased to find
that they continue to embrace their 90s rock n roll sensibilities. It’s also a
really positive record without ever breaking over into cheesy and offensive
positivity. All in all this is a really well written, solidly produced, pop
rock record, brimming with catchy feel good tunes and rock n roll swagger. Here’s
the opening song from ‘Lollipop’. Enjoy.
Me@t Puppets - Incomplete
