On their major-label debut, King Missile decided to stray away from the musicality of their previous disc, 1990’s Mystical Shit, and get back to their roots a bit. There are more tracks here with spoken word vocals than actual singing and unfortunately, it does not a good record make.
There are some songs like “My Heart Is A Flower” and “Life,” which still stand the test of time as great Missile songs, but then there are others like the title track that never really go anywhere; they just kind of sit there and wither away.
“The Story Of Willy” is one of the funniest tracks King Missile ever did, and it keeps the band and John S. Hall’s overtly dark sense of humor firmly intact. Other tracks like “I Wish” and “Sex With You” are just so overtly bizarre that it’s impossible to really get into them no matter how great the music is. Guitarist Dave Rick, bassist/keyboardist Chris Xefos and borrowed drummer Dave Ramirez were a really good combo and helped keep the energy of the record together even when Hall’s poems got a little out there.
There are a few boring tracks like “It’s” and “Pickaxe” that go nowhere at all and do absolutely nothing to enhance the disc. “Betrayal Takes Two” is a decent enough song that shows Hall trying his best to pull off a croon and it’s utterly fascinating to hear throughout the track. “Scotland” is Hall’s plea to go to the country and wear what ends up becoming a micro-mini kilt. Utterly bizarre.
In the end, this was one of the strangest major-label records released BEFORE Nevermind, but the band got better with their next record. This was just a strange detour before the band got to do everything they really wanted on record.
