Meat Puppets

Like Too High To Die, Forbidden Places is a very diverse collection and most of the tracks are very good. The opening track "Sam" is one of the great rapid-fire lyric songs ala R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" only cooler with its lightning fast intro and chugging guitar line during the chorus. "Nail It Down" is also a strong track that would have sounded great on AOR radio when they still played cool up and coming bands. The tracks "Whirlpool", "This Day", and "Another Moon" are all melodic rockers that would have fit in well on Too High To Die. The straight country of "That's How It Goes" and the title track are also very good. The heavier tracks "Popskull" and "Open Wide" are decent, but not as strong as the rest of the album. However, it's the killer cowpunk instrumental "Six Gallon Pie", along with the aforementioned "Sam", that are the best tracks here. A very good album that truly deserves to be re-released since it's better than most of the music being put out these days.

Out My Way
Average customer rating:

Borderline Favorite

Oh, so close to 5 stars (4.5 stars)

Some of the Pups' best stuff, or anyone's, for that matter

the Great Underrated Meat Puppets Album

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Out My Way
Meat Puppets
Manufacturer: Rykodisc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Mirage

Huevos

Up on the Sun

Monsters

Meat Puppets

ASIN: B00000IGSH
Release Date: 1999-04-06

Tracks:

She's Hot
Out My Way
Other Kinds Of Love
Not Swimming Ground
Mountain Line
Good Golly Miss Molly
I Just Want To Make Love To You
On The Move
Burn The Honkey Tonk Down
Boyhood Home
Backwards Drums
Everything Is Green
Other Kinds Of Love

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It was often hard to pin the Meat Puppets down: just when you thought they were hard-core thrash (1981's Meat Puppets), or an electrifying blend of desert country, hillbilly, and psychedelia (1985's seminal Up on the Sun), the Kirkwood brothers would come out with something like 1986's six-track Out My Way. Much more classic rock and country than their previous offerings, it still gave their fans a typically warped perspective--particularly on the sing-along title track and a completely maniacal version of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly." If guitarist Curt was by now wanting to move a little more towards accessibility, it sure didn't show. The seven bonus tracks here (recorded around the same time) include the self-descriptive Orb-like "Backwards Drums" and a Mekons-esque rambling version of George Jones's "Burn the Honky Tonky Down." By this point, the Phoenix trio were cruising on easy. --Everett True

Customer Reviews:

Borderline Favorite.......2006-12-01

I must say that this EP comes very close to being my favorite work by the Meat Puppets (and I really like the cover art!). The consistency of "Out My Way," "Other Kinds of Love," "Not Swimming Ground," and "Mountain Line" is just wonderful. Creative guitar work (of course), awesome lyrics...excellent in every regard. I'm also fond of the added songs "On the Move," "Burn the Honky Tonk Down," "Backwards Drums," and "Everything is Green" (the latter two being musicals). However, even with the addition of these great songs, it still doesn't *feel* like an album, which is perhaps the only reason I wouldn't rank it above other Meat Puppet's works such as "II," "Up On the Sun," or "Monsters." Still, an awesome work by the Pups, and one that I have likely listened to more than anything else by this wonderful band. Definitely a must-own.

Oh, so close to 5 stars (4.5 stars).......2005-05-28

The Meat Puppets released Out My Way in 1986 as a six-song EP stopgap release between the albums Up On The Sun and Mirage. As on their previous albums, they continued to expand their horizons by adding funk and more traditional classic rock to their cowpunk roots. Cris Kirkwood's bass lines were also becoming very creative at this point which not only complemented his brother Curt's guitar work but also made them sound even more distinctive than they already were.

Out My Way starts off with "She's Hot" and the title track which are both catchy and very funky proving the band could pretty much pull off any genre they try. "Other Kinds Of Love" is another great track with its mood swings sounding reminiscent of the material on Up On The Sun. "Not Swimming Ground" is an awesome song and arguably the best example of the musical interplay between the Kirkwood brothers. "Mountain Line" is a return to their cowpunk roots, possessing the fire that comprised their previous work but not sounding as rough. And speaking of rough, we get the loose and heavy version of "Good Golly Miss Holly" which is actually the weakest track of the original six that comprised the album. As with all of their earlier albums, several tracks have been added to the remastered version. However, the extra songs included here actually add to the release. "Burn The Honky Tonk Down" and "Boyhood Home" continue the band's country leanings while "Background Drums" shows the experimentation that would comprise their next album Mirage. "On The Move" is also another strong track. However, the best of the new tracks, and one of the best on the album period, is the 8 1/2-minute instrumental "Everything Is Green" which shows that the Meat Puppets can also be an awesome jam band if they so choose. Also included is another rough cover tune, this time it's "I Just Want To Make Love To You." The truth is, it's the rough cover versions of this and "Good Golly Miss Molly" which prevent this from being one of their classic albums. Still, it's a great release and definitely worth picking up.

Some of the Pups' best stuff, or anyone's, for that matter.......2000-10-12

The stuff added onto the reissue is very cool -- makes you want to fire up your own jam session -- but the original six tracks still constitute a terrific EP in their own right. Basically, this EP bridges the subtlety of "Up On The Sun" and the punch of "Huevos" (overlooking "Mirage", where despite some fine tracks the muse felt a little forced). And its best tracks have a certain "magical" quality that is impossible to describe, but instantly recognizable. Agree w/ previous reviewer re "Out My Way" -- simply an amazing, hypnotic spin on so-called "classic rock". "Down in its cave/My heart lays/Its own sun/Lights the day". Incredible stuff. Also superb is "Not Swimming Ground", with a wondrous solo and joyous bass, seriously threatening to get you a speeding ticket. These two alone are among the very best stuff by the band, probably among the most transcendent hundred-odd rock songs I know of (from "Rubber Soul" up through the present -- I admit I kind of lost track of most stuff after "Too High To Die" or so. Maybe because I turned 30 around then or something). "Other Kinds of Love" is the other standout, a psychedelic gem, and the rest range from solid to fun, with nary a dog in the bunch.

the Great Underrated Meat Puppets Album.......1999-12-09

"Out My Way" was already pretty good; unfortunately it ended abruptly after six songs, leaving this listener with some blank cassette time to fill. Now, the band has stretched a good EP into one of The Great Rock Efforts. Yeah, it's polished, but it's also utterly psychedelic without a single wasted note. I love jamming, but they don't even need to jam to astrally transport you, here. On "Other Kinds of Love" the band sounds as though they require Eastern melodies simply to accomodate their expanded definition of love. "Not Swimming Ground" and "Mountain Line" are perfect hybrids of bluegrass and rock; at the end of the former, one can faintly make out the guitarist muttering, "I played my head on that one," meaning it. One wonders how they left "On the Move" off the original album, since it is so catchy you'll swear you must have already purchased a product that it was advertising. On "Everything is Green," the band does stretch it out at long last, and it might make you wonder why the Grateful Dead needed so many members. "Out My Way" simply takes rock to another level and, shrugging, drops it there, announcing, "This is what the music can be; now what do we do, next?" OK?

jkngbdg dfg df gdf glsd glsdh fgsdhgkljsd fg.......1999-04-06

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Average customer rating:

A Strong album
The heavy tunes don't really suit them
Worth It For "Touchdown King"
Arguably the Mup's most dull offering.
Likable, but still, weird

Monsters
Meat Puppets
Manufacturer: Rykodisc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Huevos
Mirage
Out My Way
Meat Puppets
Forbidden Places

ASIN: B00000IN4L
Release Date: 1999-04-27

Tracks:

Attacked By Monsters
Light
Meltdown
In Love
The Void
Touchdown King
Party Till The World Obeys
Flight Of The Fire Weasel
Strings On Your Heart
Like Being Alive
Wish Upon A Storm
Flight Of The Fire Weasel (Pt. 1)
Flight Of The Fire Weasel (Pt. 2)

Customer Reviews:

A Strong album.......2004-11-06

The album which most embodies Nirvana's sound, is a really good piece of work. Although they made a bad desicion and put electric drums on the album,(which really gives it its 80's sound) it still manages to work,despite the fact it didn't work for alot of bands. The album is really good when you're hanging out in your basement on a rainy day, or night. Overall it's a pretty "peppy" album, so it won't bring you down; it's happy, and all of its listenable, which is very contrary to their earlier stuff. In my opinion the first album on their way to greatness.

The heavy tunes don't really suit them.......2004-08-14

Monsters was the Meat Puppets' last album for independent record label SST records before going to a major label for their next album Forbidden Places. Up until this point in their career, the band's sound was becoming very diverse, combining country, punk, blues-rock, and psychedelia into their own unique sound. With Monsters, the band went into a heavier direction and while many of the songs here are good, the album overall doesn't have the staying power of their earlier releases Up On The Sun and Meat Puppets II or their breakthough album Too High To Die.

Many of the tracks here such as "Attacked By Monsters", "The Void", and the haphazard instrumental "Flight of the Fire Weasel" all feature wicked riffs and are among the heaviest songs they've ever recorded. But while these songs are decent and feature wild guitar work from Curt Kirkwood, it's the more melodic material that works best here. The tracks "In Love", "Light", and especially "Touchdown King" are all great songs which combine Kirkwood's guitar work with memorable melodies. Other tracks such as "Meltdown" and the dreamy closer "Like Being Alive" are decent as well. The tracks "Strings on Your Heart" and "Party Til the World Obeys" are unmemorable which is surprising considering the consistently strong material that usually comprises their albums. While this album is decent, they've released much better albums than this and only "Touchdown King" is among their best work.

Worth It For "Touchdown King".......2002-09-11

Monsters was probably the low point for the Meat Puppets in their original incarnation (in other words, not counting Golden Lies, which I have never heard). They were probably reacting to the times, which were really a depressing middle ground between the great post-punk explosion of the mid-80's -- which might be the pinnacle of post-60's rock music and of which they were a leading force -- and the emergence of Nirvana a year after this album. As a result this album abandons the sharp kick of their mid-80's releases and resorts to heavy rock with heavy production to match. The songs are all good, but not what you would expect after classics like "Split Myself in Two," "Plateau," and "Swimming Ground." And the pop brilliance that would reemerge on Forbidden Places and Too High to Die is mostly lost in the heavy mix.

The highlight is clearly "Touchdown King," which recalls the more melodic and brighter material of Up on the Sun. By stretching out this song with some guitar solos, they really do sound like the Grateful Dead of Punk, which I have heard them called.

It's still well worth owning but only after you've gotten their best albums which are, in order, Meat Puppets II, Up on the Sun and Too High to Die along with the mid-level albums Huevos, Mirage and Forbidden Places, which are also superior to this one.

Arguably the Mup's most dull offering........2001-07-07

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but this record just sounds dull and uninspired. The sound here is based around cheesy outdated 80's metal for the most part. Just awful production with no real push to it... I just seriously dislike this record. The lyrics sound boring and forced, which just doesn't feel like Curt Kirkwood's style to me. I'm all about growing as an artist, but this record should have been out of print long ago.

There are a few somewhat redeeming monets, though. "Light" is a pleasant enough song, and "Touchdown King" is a fine example of their mid-period sound at it's best. "Party Till The World Obeys" is *almost* a really good song... but the lackluster production turns it into a boring thud. The best bet on this record is the acoustic "Like Being Alive"... even though that would have been the weak link on any previous album.

Some swear by this record... I just swear *at* it for being such a wasted oppurtunity.

Likable, but still, weird.......2000-10-08

After being dissapointed by a Meat Puppets concert, I went and listened to Meat Puppets "Monsters" to make sure that I still enjoyed them. "Monsters" is a mix of psycadellia and punk. The first song "Attacked by Monsters" is by far the best, with a great chorus, and great guitar work. The songs "Light" an "In Love" sound alike, but they are still great. Also is a very Alice In Chains like song "The Void" and the 70's guitar driven instrumental "Flight of the Weasel". Over all, although I think the band new line-up and music is really bad, "Monsters" is still good.