 "What a random way to remember my formative years..." | 2009-07-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2KOD7Q6SEZC94 |
14 years after this CD came out and about 10 years after the last time I have bought a CD, I heard a Polyphonic Spree song on TV which reminded me of the Spree's Tim DeLaughter and Mark Pirro's band Tripping Daisy, which I have revisited in the last few days.
I bought the album because I probably saw the "I got a girl" video on MTV after they replaced videos with Reality Show ephemera, but still played obscure videos like "Girl" late at night.
I was in 8th grade and actively trying to figure out what kind of music (and books, movies, etc.) that I liked, and so I picked the CD up at a music shop and found "I am an Elastic Firecracker" to be full of catchy psychedelic pop tunes worthy of recommendation.
It's too bad that Tripping Daisy leaves such a thin trail of music behind. They could have produced much more memorable, and maybe even important, albums which were never meant to be. One member died tragically of a drug overdose and the two remaining members, in a move possibly even more tragic, started the psychedelic uber-twee pop chorus/fake cult The Polyphonic Spree.
Tripping Daisy never actually entered my view screen much after I had listened to the album a few times in my discman (as was the custom of the time). It's too bad because this album also sings about albums never made and songs never written. But this album still basically holds up to listening, though not as well as another mid 90's psychedelic alternative pop group whose album I picked up in the same "I'll give it a try" mood: Hum.
While I don't know if the two bands even really share all that much in common musically, I bought both albums at around the same time and for the same reasons; to find out what I liked. |
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 "Flower power" | 2009-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A8IFUOL8S9BZC |
| Behind the quirky alterna-pop of this short lived entity lies some memorably catchy guitar rock- enough to make the album worth revisiting if not flat out recommending. |
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 "Such a great CD!!" | 2008-11-12 |
| - Reviewed By lilbit121 |
| I used to listen to this CD all. the. time. in high school but I must have lost it while in college. I was listening to a 90's station the other day and heard "I got a girl" and just had to have the CD again. Awesome! |
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| "Only Album My ears have Heard...." | 2008-06-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: AYRVOYZK1LGEB |
Ok Kiddos' this is the One and Only Album that I have Heard....Old school, Loved IT! Times change....your music you listen to takes the bend in the river.....So Tonight I am gonna Download their Other Two albums and take a trip back into time! And I think that I will enjoy the triP!
~aLiShA~ |
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| "Good, not great" | 2007-11-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: A37AFRPRPL7QBB |
This is a good recording and has some good songs (and some forgettable songs, ex. "Got a Girl"). "Rocketpop", "Noose", and "Prick" are some of the standouts. "Prick" being my personal favorite. Definitely worth the used price of $0.01, but make sure and buy "Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb" if you don't already have it which is TD's true masterpiece.
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| "Certainly not perfect, but has its moments" | 2005-09-16 |
| - Reviewed By lifeofcandlelight |
Being "too young" to really follow that much music when this was out in 1995, it was like seven years later that I finally got to hear this band. And for almost three years, the only song I knew from them was "I Got a Girl". My friend got me into this band through this and "Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb". Not a bad album by any means, but the latter is certainly a better album.
I hate to say this about an artist I like a lot, but about half of the songs sound like they were required to be made by the record label. Additionally, it's a somewhat unfocused album, with songs like "Same Dress, New Day" and "Trip Along" which both don't fit well in the context and are a bit dated. Additionally there's a lot of stuff that you'll try to get yourself into rather than actually enjoy.
But why exactly is this a four-star album to me? Well, there are its fair share of pretty good tracks, and the bad could be a whole lot worse. But it's somewhat listenable, even. Originally I would have just given it three stars, but "Prick" is enough of a reason to buy the album. Nine minutes long and the closest thing to metal they've ever done, it's great. Still, they don't sacrifice the generally happy tone that's usually in Tim Delaughter's songs. It's the part after the guitar solo that I love so much, although this is a reason that some may miss the guitarist, Wes. He had a Billy Corgan-type quality to playing the guitar and this was his "Cherub Rock".
One other good thing here is some of the lyrics, like the melodic "Motivation". Elsewhere, "I Got a Girl", which you've probably heard, is really clever and still has not gotten old. Even if I wish people could acknowledge more from the band. I sort of like "Rocketpop", "Bang", "Piranha", and the catchy-yet-quirky "Raindrop". Also, I particularly enjoy "High", another track that shows the great guitar ability they had and Tim has a Brian Wilson-type falsetto here.
More of its strengths are in the last two tracks than anything else, and unfortunately there are a lot of tracks that are barely above average. I think I'd recommend "Jesus" over this if you like the Polyphonic Spree and would like to hear what Tim did in Tripping Daisy. However, for what it's worth, it's a nice blend of psychedelic and punk-pop with occasional other things. |
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