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Review
In the midst of making this album, even Whitford had enough of Tyler's drug demons and left. But really, this is true to the spirit of the 70's records, even though there are a few nods to the 80's here and there, like the goofy synth lead in to "Lightning Strikes". There's not much to say, otherwise. The band is still on the downside from its' drug and concert debacles and now under the very unsteady control of Tyler, yet the album is not even close to being a failure. It's fairly entertaining, rather head-scratching at times, but overall, another winner that stands on its' own next to the giants of the previous decade. The strangest tangent may be the whole "Joanie's Butterfly" deal, and actually, the only part that really bothers me is the "Prelude", where I never can understand Tyler's electronically-treated spoken-word bit, which renders it worthless. "Butterfly" itself is an OK, art-rock type-of song which reminds me of a more light-hearted version of "Kings and Queens", but in this record, it also feels a bit out of place. It definitely stretches for something far out of the normal reach of the content of this album, which is - the gutter. And that, to me, is something that should really interest the hardcore fan which got into the band in the first place. Tracks like "Jailbait", "Jig Is Up", and "Bolivian Ragamuffin" are right in that rough house, first or second album ball park, but with noticeable swaths of vulnerability thrown in. "Bitch's Brew", for me, is the pick, which could have come straight out of the Toys in the Attic days, especially the spaced-out, quivering-on-the-void mid-section. Just an amazing throwback. "Push Comes to Shove", as well, shares a lot of the strange mood that a older track like "Pandora's Box" had going for it. The drawback here is, at this low point, that is about all the band had going for them - recall the old days by piling on the excess, money, and more drugs than you can ever imagine. Apparently, 3 years and around $1.5 million were spent eking out the album which took some 20 years to garner a gold record. So, I guess the moral is - you win some and you lose some?
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