December 04, 1998

It's a SBD and the vocals are terrific as well as the keys but the bass, drums and most of the sub-bass/low end is faint and far. Also, Barber's guitar seems to only be picked up by the monitors or something. Tone control or a Loki mini does wonders and turns it into a decent sound. Pretty average long one setter with segments of awesomeness. 'Bazaar' is good with Barber and Mags having at it. I-Man is average except for the great finish and superb sync into 'Pat & Dex" terrific!! "Dribble" is the highlight for me, some say "Basis" but the Sammy rimshot beat complementing Magner's funky repeated electro samples creates much groove. The bass is the cement keeping it all together without being too jammy. At around 9 minutes, shit gets real good. Very acid jazzy as was the times. Although the guitar is low in the mix, Barber strums away a psychedelic gunshot as they embark into tripsville, population candyflippin'. Boom 12:35 the Dribble blastoff. It's a good one. Once we get to the "On a wild blue island in the deep blue seas" they land although with one wheel. It ends with a beautiful piano jam on the "grand piano" outro. Weird and good as they pronounce "thank you, that's our punk song" If you can tone control the bass and mid-bass way up without jitter or unbalanced sound, then "Basis" is the monster. BUT, the lack of breadth and volume on Barber's axe just makes it too uneven. But Sammy!!??!! Champion. This is "Basis" percussion at it's finest, especially with that hammer kick drum pounding away....cleanly. From around 13 minutes onward lies a fun and funky dance party. 1.0 Basis frenzy. A step up and in second gear we arrive at a steady bass-led jam from 18 minutes or so until another A++ segue into a faster 1.0 "B & C" great version, before they tweaked and changed up the tune in the next couple years. Beautiful jam from 2:50 until they return to 'Basis' to continue this most bodacious jam. Phenomenal climax. 'Barfly' is nice with Mags' hammond sweeps and Barber's delicate notion at the end. DA BLUEZ! Is Barfly really Funky Bitch in a different dress?

sound: 7 / 10 ~ potential of 8.5 / 10 with accurate eq-ing. show: 7.75 / 10

The Biscuits are a living, applicable examples of Aristotle's truth:

"“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”"