On the final record by the classic lineup of King Missile, the band seemed to be running on autopilot. The music gets a lot heavier and more distorted, and John S. Hall’s lyrics are all over the place. Almost every track begins with a lot of feedback and distortion like the guys really didn’t know how to properly intro each track.
“Love Is…” was the only single and while it’s far away from “Detachable Penis,” it’s still a halfway decent track with some great guitar playing from Dave Rick. The three best tracks on the disc, “Pigs Will Fly,” “Open Up” and “Tongue,” sound like classic Missile and are the most focused tracks here.
This is unlike most other Missile records because all the emphasis is placed on the music. The band really seems to be running the show and Hall just appears to spew poetry wherever he sees fit. Songs like “These People” and the dreadful “Delores” don’t go anywhere at all and make the record feel incredibly half-assed and lazy. Only momentarily throughout the disc, such as on “Lies,” does the band show that it is alive and alert instead of making a record just to make a record.
Despite ending the album with something as consciously good as “Psalm,” the band wound up making the type of record destined to go to the cutout bin. And guess what? That’s exactly where it wound up. The band ended up disbanding not even six months after the record’s release.
Twenty-two years after the record was released, you can’t find it on iTunes, Spotify or any streaming/download service. So if you’re interested in the final act of a great band, start digging through the used bargain bins. Otherwise, you’re better off without it.
