Boasting an eye-catching cover straight from
Mad
magazine, this is a less successful follow-up to
Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics
, with almost the same personnel. While this album has the same California-via-Wales guitar twang and spit as its predecessor, evidenced by the laconically witty
"You Don't Like Us,"
it somehow lacks ambition. Perhaps it's the absence of keyboardist
Malcolm Morley
. The pensive
"Grasshopper"
rises to the occasion, though, with a percussive piano part and weeping strings overlaid by gentle strummed guitar. [
Esoteric
's 2008 edition included bonus tracks.] ~ Paul Collins