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** Tripmaster Monkey
PRACTICE CHANGES
(Sire)
TM's latest disc lives up
to the promise implied in its title. It's a marathon trip to the supermarket
beginning with a campy introduction "Car Song Chorus" ("anywhere I go/I'm
driving") and ending with untitled live studio takes on free jazz, power funk,
Beatlemania, and punk. Rock anthems like "Beyonder" and "Colts" show off the
band's ability to fill a studio with high-powered feedback or hone the classic
rock ballad to the purity of a garage band. There's lots of self-depreciating
humor as well. "Anthem of the Interstate Army" exhibits all the energy and
exuberance of Camper Van Beethoven's best; they're a buoyant rhythm machine on
"Rhythm Practice," the Dando-cum-Mascis "Fizzle like a Flood," and the
wry "Sprocket Dick." Sometimes the band let loose with punk raves like "Shirley
on Pills," which is tempered with jazz breaks, an explosive sonic bridge, and
goofy choruses. If you miss the Feelies or the dB's, if you liked the quick
changes of the Minutemen, then Practice Changes is a deliriously
overstuffed shopping cart with more than one wobbly wheel.
-- Craig Thorn
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