"...not too much POLL...too much POLL": The Meat Puppets' Up on the Sun

(i forgot to check if this had been done yet or not...sorry)

HEY PETE THIS ALBUM IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN MEAT PUPPETS II

voted Up On the Sun

me too

between that and Two Rivers for me, though I might end up voting Enchanted Pork Fist instead...

good excuse to listen to this album

Enchanted Pork Fist, though this is great all the way through.

One of my favourite albums of all time. "Swimming Ground" for me, I think.

There's a lot to recommend on this album. It was the first Meat Puppets I heard. Bought it randomly out of the SST catalog insert from a Black Flag cassette.

I'd go with Up On the Sun (the title track, obvs). It was always my favorite, but I saw them play it live twice during their too-brief period of stadiums and basketball arenas in the mid-90s and it was just so huge sounding.

Duh, this is clearly 'Up On The Sun'. Or 'Away'. Or 'Swimming Ground'. Or 'Hot Pink'. Or one of the other ones.

"Maiden's Milk" was the one that really made me go "What the...????!?!"

I think I might take Huevos over this. Haven't heard either in ages. But on this excellent album I have to go with the title track.

I like Huevos better too. Huevos is ZZ Top's best '80s album.

Great record, though "II" still has the edge, I think.

"Two Rivers" for me

I've said it before, my face is blue here already, but it's one of the most baffling things I've ever come across that anyone would prefer "II" to this album.

Between "Two Rivers" and the title track.

II has some better songs, but this one's the better album.

I may vote for "Away". That intro rattles inside my head at least once a week, usually when I'm walking the three blocks back to my car.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"up on the sun" is a great song, but I'm gonna have to go with "enchanted porkfist" if only for the gtr solo which still makes the top of my head feel like it's being lifted off

I might like "lost" better than anything on here, tho

plateau vs. aurora borealis vs. two rivers vs. up on the sun vs. swimming ground...

great album. voted for "Maiden's Milk."

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

the super speed riffs at the beginning of "maiden's milk" are so gorgeous

They jammed Up On The Sun for ten minutes or more when I saw them earlier this year. It was great.

I think beginning of Maiden's Milk was literally the first time guitar virtuosity ever flattened my brane. I had listened to shit like Judas Priest and Tull and BOC before that but I had never had an OMG GUITAR PLAYING IT CAN BE INCREDIBLE moment til then.

Also I had just started playing myself so that probably had something to do with it.

yeah part of it is the super clean, sparkly tone, it's so much harder to hide imperfections in technique (as opposed to a super distorted metal tone)

The show I saw was actually last year but whatev.

WOW

they were fucking amazing last night.

worst dressed band in the world outside of maybe built to spill

curt and chris look like one of those "before and after" meth addiction posters.

chris had the most bizarre mannerisms

both of them still have the chops beyond belief....new drummer was super tight.

i always sorta marveled at curt's guitar tone, it never occured to me he was playing and acoustic guitar through pedals and an amp!

opened with plateu

did a fucking crazy ass hawkwind-gone-country jam on up on the sun...did about 3-4 of those throughout the set

really intense and faithful cover of "wasted days and wasted nights" by freddy fender

closes with, natch, "backwater" and "lake of fire"

over i was pretty blown away

Sounds just like the set I saw cept they opened with "Oh Me" which kinda freaked me out tbh

ha the time i saw them in '08 was with Built To Spill (actually OPENING for them, which is a travesty imo). i love that they still play goofy major label era songs like "Sam" and "The Station" along with the classix.

yeah the set was super long and pretty balanced between the old stuff and the 90s stuff...pretty sure there might've been a couple from the new one, but couldn't tell if it was that or just 90s stuff i'd not heard

i always sorta marveled at curt's guitar tone, it never occured to me he was playing and acoustic guitar through pedals and an amp!

Hmmm I have never seen him do that onstage! Normally he is mr. les paul the 2nd!

They're welcome to play shit off Forbidden Places as much as they want! I like that record more than huevos or monsters tbh

Fuck, I don't think I voted in this poll. Where the hell was I?

I would have gone for 'Two Rivers', that song makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. In a good way.

Yeah, they were pretty great tonight too. Greg Norton showed up to play bass on a cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows," and then hung around to ramble drunkenly while they played "Climbing" for the encore.

dunno why but all this dinosaur jr activity made me put this on

~vibin~

I listened to this on Spotify a couple weeks ago; I think I'll do it again today...

I don't know if I like this more than II or not.

this album is so perfect

seal whales deserved a vote

is there a best Meat Puppets album poll? do people not rank Mirage with this one? I always did but I was pretty susceptible to the over-the-top copy in the SST catalog about it

funny -- I've been listening to Too High to Die for the last week and wondered whether they ever made a shitty album.

before I heard Mirage I had d/led p much by chance a live recording of the Pupps playing a bunch of tunes from that album, and they all sounded amazing, but hearing the actual album versions was an inevitable letdown.

If I'd spotted this poll 2 years ago, I would have voted for Creator. Criminal that it got no votes at all. That scrambling guitar line is a thing of beauty, and the drollery of the lyrics inspired

i love mirage

I sent you that bootleg AG; you don't still have it, do you?

is there a best Meat Puppets album poll? do people not rank Mirage with this one? I always did but I was pretty susceptible to the over-the-top copy in the SST catalog about it

― decrepit but free (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, June 2, 2012 2:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

iirc there has not been a MP albums poll, i probably would've done one by now if i wasn't convinced there'd be a predictable landslide for II w/ Up On The Sun as runner-up and virtually nothing else getting any votes.

Yup. As much as I'd be tempted to vote for Huevos I'd probably go with UOTS.

oh man Huevos is so good

I would vote Up on the Sun or Mirage. I do not understand why more people don't rep for Mirage. The Mighty Zero? I Am A Machine? the title track? C'mon dudes this album slays.

If the rest of their catalog disappeared I'd be satisfied with "Sexy Music" playing in a loop.

smithy and i are agreeing a lot lately

Monsters rocks too

and Huevos

Mirage is good but the production polish doesn't really suit them. Monster is probably their worst Bostrom-era album imo (although "Touchdown King" is an all-time classic).

Mirage is good but the production polish doesn't really suit them.

actually the super-twinkle of the sound on Mirage is part of what I like about it - it's got a transparency that I've always loved. If I were going to drop acid and listen to the Meat Puppets, Mirage would be the album I'd reach for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsx4F-qGKsA&feature=related