Paralyzer starts off the album on a positive note offering up some melodic Franz Ferdinand-esque pop that sounds like nothing the band has ever recorded, which is a good thing. Failing On keeps the vibe going before the group settles into the acoustic ballad I'll Keep Your Memory Vague that halts the album's momentum in its tracks.

My Name Is Buddy traces the path of an itinerant feline named Buddy, his sidekick Lefty Mouse and Reverend Tom Toad as they traverse an America unwilling to accept their humanistic, outsider views. It's no secret this tale of a dustbowl-like time is analogous to the unsettled political climate under the Bush II political regime and [RY COODER] and his band (including Flaco Jimenez, Jim Keltner, Van Dyke Parks and Mike Seeger) have created a song cycle that rates as highly as his best Chicken Skin Revue work from decades ago. A musical statement that needs to be heard. HHHH1/2