Tripping over daisies? (Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb - Tripping Daisy)

Member Name: kylecoare

Product:	Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb - Tripping Daisy
Date:	31/05/04 (220 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some great musicianship, good vocals`

Disadvantages: not to everyones taste

T R I P P I N G D A I S Y
Jesus hits like the Atom bomb.
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Tripping Daisy are a band that most people will be unaware off, this isn't because they were a bad group or that their music was poor, it was more about promotion and our countries aparant dislike of American rock music.

The band formed in 1991 and were soon getting quite a name for themselves in their local area, entering and winning a variety of different band competitions.
They then went on to write and record a few singles and their debut album, Bill, which was originally released on a smalltime label, but when the band signed for Island records this was rereleased.

Around this time the band had started to get noticed a little by the music press around the world, and were unfairly being given the tag of the new Janes Addiction, when really the bands shared very few similarities musically, apart from the quirky tunes.

After the semi success of 'Bill' the band went on to there second album 1995's, ' I am the Elastic Firecracker', this strangely titled album showed a lot of promise with some cleverly written tunes alongside some quite bizarre lyrics, but what really brought this album into the limelight is the only song to feature in the British top 40, 'I've got a girl', which is a song the band soon slated and never played live.

This brings us nicely onto the next album and this review......


BAND MEMBERS.
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Tim DeLaughter - Vocals, Guitars, Califone and Dulcimer.
Wes Berggren - Guitars, melotron, cello.
Mark Pirro - Bass , Percussion,
Phillip Karnats - Guitar, Trumpet and Banjo.
Ben Curtis - Drums, Percussion.

After this album Wes Berggren sadly died of a drug overdose causing the band to split up.

THE ALBUM.
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Okay so until this point I've hardly mentioned a
nything about the most important thing, what do they sound like.
The main reason I've took so long is that you really cant pigeon hole this sound.
Be Ready for something strange and different with this album.
The rest of the review should help you through!

The album clocks in at 57 minutes and contains 15 songs, im only going to mention a few of those else id bore you all to tears and we all know that water and your PC don't mix very well.


FIELD DAY JITTERS
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This is the first song on the album, and basically is a very good indication of whats to come later,in the way that you haven't got a clue how this song is going to change let along the album as a whole, the music is everything, its all over the place but yet it works well.

The first thing i should really say about this bands music is that its very odd, quite psychedelic, while staying very rocky and melodic.
If you look back at the band members and their instruments you will realize that the musicians involved were great multi instrumentalists, and it shows a lot on most songs on this collection.

The music starts with a very jangly confused sounding fast paced guitar riff, which is nicely mixed with about ever other instrument under the sun, giving a really cool loud sound, whilst staying tuneful.
This goes for about a verse then stops suddenly for a little section of what sounds like a xylophone, then kicks back into the main tune.
by the end of the tune you have all sorts of musical instruments adding their little parts, which on first listen will sound well out of key and disorganized but given a few listens it all soon clicks into place, and you realize how talented the artists are.

Lyrically this is just plain odd, which is one of the downsides with this band, basically the lyrics don't seem to mean anything at all, the vocals are very well done though, and give the music an extra
layer to the already overflowing river of sound.

"Wondering Jets inside of me, I've got the field day jitters, wet matches and a bottle of Mr clean"

WAITED A LIGHT YEAR
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After the fairly fast paced opener the album soon gives something a little slower, but no less cleverly written musically.

This opens with some nicely plucked guitar notes giving a sense of wellbeing and niceness about the tune, this soon gives way for a more forceful approach with some heavy riffing taking over.
This soon changes again to show another layer of the tune which adds a lot of tunefulness and shows a lot of quality in the musicians.
This song clocks in at 6 minutes long, yet it doesn't feel that long due to the way the music is constantly changing tempo and style.

Lyrically this will not win any awards, the lyrics total about two lines and are nothing to write home about, but the way Tom sings them gives them a slight edge, and makes the song very listenable.


SONIC BLOOM
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one of the bands best songs and certainly one of my top 50 songs, this is a great little tune, a semi hippy type love song with one of the most beautiful sounds ever.

Musically this again mixes a vast array of different instruments into the sound, but it never sounds overloaded or too loud, basically it gets it just right.
The song runs at a nice mid tempo pace and has a very lovey type feel to it.
The tune is mostly filled with a slowish acoustic guitar backed up by some light drums and various other instruments that i wouldn't dare to even name.

Lyrically and vocally this is one of the albums highlights and also makes it a stand out song.



MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN
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Well heres the bands chance to rock out, and they take it, although they still have to be a bit different about it, o
n this track they add a very 80's sounding synthesizer to the mix, which really works and they were many years before The Darkness!

Tunewise this isn't quite as strong as some of the other numbers mentioned, it follows a pretty basic guitar sequence and just has the basic instruments and the afore mentioned synth.

Vocally Tom has had a little studio surgery done on his vocals her, which really doesn't help in the end, but it was probably a good idea at the time!


GEEAREOHDOUBLEYOU
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This song again takes up the whole style of the album by being all over the place, one minute its a slow type song then suddenly were greeted by a thunderous riff and drums then almost as soon as were used to the increase in volume were into the next little section of the song .
G.R.O.W (Read the song title again!)
this is a nice tune, it features a fine vocal performance from Mr Tom DeLaughter and some very fine music mostly written by the same Mr DeLaughter
.DeLaughter has a fascination with the 60's/70's and it shows a lot in his music and certainly his vocals.


HUMAN CONTACT
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This is a sort of spacey sounding tune, if you imagine floating around Mars with a girl/boy you love then you have the feeling that this song gives.

This is one of the very few tunes that doesn't really need all off the extra instruments and only really adds what would give a bit more to the song.

This song is one of the slower numbers on the album, and works really well as a relaxing tune, and also adds a bit of a vocal chorus which Mr DeLaughter is obviously happy about seeing as he followed this band up by forming 'The Polyphonic Spree'!


PILLAR
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this is a strange number, which changes tempo quite a few different times during the song, but this works and it works well like a really hard work
ing person.
The tune starts out sounding like a slow ballad, with only a few plucked notes and the vocals, then before you know it its kicked into a full blown riff with some nice additional music joining in.

After which point the song gets even quicker and really keeps the interest in the song.

Vocally this as good as previous songs, although Tom Delaughter isnt the best singer in the world he has still got a very good tuneful voice that mixes well with the thoughtful music.



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OVERALL


Well as any album goes, your either going to love this or hate it, but if your a rock fan then id certainly recommend it as its going to be something you haven't heard yet, also if you have heard and liked the Polyphonic Spree you should listen to this band to see where they started from.

After this recording the guitarist Wes Berggren died of an overdose, which made the band split up, they released one final album as tripping daisy then split.
Tom Delaughter went on to form the Polyphonic spree a quite different type of group!!!


Thanks for reading.
Kyle

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