The album which established Public Enemy as the preeminent social and political force in hip-hop...but for all the dizzying samples, noises, segues, shouts, and raps, there was still a nagging feeling that the group had much more ground to cover. Which they would...but here, it was enough to wow audiences at the time, and get the music world to take the genre seriously.

Sure, it sounds like it came out right on the heels of Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys circa 86-87...and it's unmistakably a Public Enemy album, through and through. Just not a good one - at least compared to what would soon follow.

Despite the ridiculous cover, this is easily their best studio record since the debut. One of the things I like about it is, the songs – by and large – are short and to the point - unlike the two previous studio albums, where they often got lost in a bunch of stoned, hippie, redneck-isms. Think Grand Funk in their pop phase but with a very pronounced and eclectic Southern/country vibe. “Jim Dandy” introduced Ruby Starr – her burly, blues-derived pipes perfectly compliment Mangrum’s un-tethered growl – while the rest of the group barrels forth full-speed ahead with nary a hitch in their groove. IMHO, easily the group’s catchiest, most involved, and inventive tune. Starr is conspicuously absent for the rest of the album, which is a bit of a shame – with sexed-up titles like “Red Hot Lovin” and “Happy Hooker”, one would have thought she could have ably spiced up those lusty affairs as well, but it was not to be….But the good thing is, the band is in a less serious mood than on the two previous studio efforts – they even include an instrumental, of all things: a quirky track called “Moonshine Sonata”, which proved the band had not lost their sense of humor. The ending “Mad Man” is another relative tour-de-force – not blow-you-away great, but enough technical prowess, moody paranoia, and related drama from Jim Dandy to warrant repeated listens.

This episode has a ridiculous premise. Sorry to spoil it but the murderer apparently kills cops because he gets offended that they beat his high score on a video game. And how can I forget Stoner Jackson?

Hard to attribute this solely to the musician known as "Twink" (John Alder), as in reality a multitude of artists - basically, a good chunk of the British psychedelic underground - came together to work on and complete the record. And it shows. This is more jam session than coherent set of music, with mantric rhythms, chants, percussion, and what other imagined opium-den sounds they can conjure. It's not recommended to think pink except once in a long while.