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A domestic release for this previously net-only release from Mr Prolific, Lou Barlow (he of Sebadoh, Folk Implosion et al). 23 song sketches and the occasional fully-fledged idea marked by heavy-handed acoustic guitar strumming and suitably lo-fi recording prowess. Barlow's voice is as affecting as ever, although much of this latest batch only strengthens the desire for a more considered, better recorded follow up to the disappointingly flat 'The Sebadoh'. Songs like the mid-album None of Your Goddam Bizness and I Love My Momma really are worth the price of admission, a brace of ballads that rise head and shoulders above most of the less developed material here, poignancy unaffected by the modest recording techniques. Elsewhere Girls Come First, On The Face and the Jason Lowenstein, Russ Pollard enhanced wwjd? ('what would Jesus do?') all distinguish themselves among the half-baked and plain weird.

Matt Dornan
May-June 2002

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