Released: 1997
Tracks: Potato; I, Drum-Running, Am Clapboard Bound; Why Am I Your Guy?; Looking For Nina; Frozen Beef (Come With Me); TRANQUILLADO; What Happened Next; Chatfield Manor; Beautiful; “I Guess I’ll Peanut”; Voyage to Manhood; Egg Zooming; Own; I’m Afraid; Cardboard Dog; Sluggo
Best track: Frozen Beef
Tracks to skip: What Happened Next, Peanut
Fantastic album. There are a couple of useless things (mentioned above), but they’re both really short songs. The rest of the album is great. The more I listen to it the more I like it. Or, the more I LOVE it. The difference between this and Hat is amazing. In the span of 5 years it sounds like he grew up 10. Now, I don’t yet have Dust Speck or Half Alive, so I can’t fully trace the progress, but the difference between the two is astounding. The songs are great, the playing is mind blowing and Keneally’s such a more confident singer and songwriter. Mike plays a lot of instruments on this album, a lot more keyboards than on Hat. Another thing that makes a huge improvement is the production. It’s really clear and open on this.
Picking a ‘best track’ was rather hard since all of the songs are excellent. Some are very poppy, some are hard core prog and some don’t fit into any category he’d done before. At first I didn’t like I’m Afraid at all, since it’s pretty sappy, but the more I hear it the more I just love it. I no longer see it as ‘sappy’ and now to me it’s just so sad and depressing. It’s a very honest song about how Keneally is unable to be with his daughter on her birthday (he was on tour). It’s actually quite a shock to see a musician open themselves up that much and show that much vulnerability. And the melody on it is stunningly beautiful. The other ‘different’ track is Sluggo, where Mike calls up the ghost of Duke Ellington and unleashes a solo piano piece that swings and sounds like Mike had been playing jazz his whole life.
This is an excellent album, but I still say it’s not as great as Dancing. However, if you want an introduction into MK’s music, then this is a perfect thing to pick up. All his styles are represented here and they’re all done masterfully. Excellent.
Rating: 96
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