Meat Puppets

Meat Puppets were following some peyote ritual boogie rock muse when they recorded this less Dead-y/more ZZ Top-y follow-up to Meat Puppets II. If all you know are the Nirvana covers, check out the title track for more psychedelic perfection. This band could REALLY play its instruments.

Furious negativist then, goofy nature mystic now, Curt Kirkwood is the David Thomas of endearing sloppiness. The tunes unfold loosely and sweetly, with Curt's guitars not so much chiming as chattering in a nonchalantly unstylish take on neofolk lyricism. But the music's charms are a little too flaccid to hold up the most unabashedly lysergic worldview yet to emerge from postpunk. (Grade - B+)