Customer Reviews

Ball-Hog Or Tugboat

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, I bought this Cd mainly because Eddie Vedder participates in two tracks, I saw a presentation in TV, an ad in a magazine and got interested enough to buy it. Well, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made (specially since it's a hard to get Cd here in Mexico) Well, Bass player Mike Watt, joins with a few friends from diferent bands, what seems reflected in the tracks, imagine a musical blender where you can just put the musical influences from different musicians (Watt & Friends), the result? a CD full of musical tracks so entertaining to listen to. You won't be disapointed by this one.

Mike Watt is a great bassist, very underrated. This outing is all over the musical map and while that's admirable, it makes for a very inconsistant CD. To me, this set doesn't have any focus due to the fact that there are so many guest muscians (great though they may be). However, there are quite a few good songs on here, notably "Big Train", "Against the '70s", E-Ticket Ride" and the Funkadelic cover "Maggot Brain" among others.

Nobody plays bass like Watt. But some tracks are hard to listen to (they show off Watt's duet partner, not him). Still, it's worth having for the few gems, especially Watt's tongue-in-cheek duet w/ Mr. Vedder, and the Henry Rollins track.

This is a mid-90s classic. Those who are making it nowadays in rock and pop cannot match that eras experimentalism, creativity, quirkiness, humor, freshness. Cynicism, rage, and sensuality have now poisoned the hearts of youth. This is when rock was still fun. The video for "piss-bottle man" featuring the Evan Dando, the lead singer for the Lemonheads, is what sold me on this album many years ago.

This is a stylistically diverse album, with different sounds, lyrical themes, and singers. The only constant is Mike Watt on bass and his songwriting sensabilities. It's a great album, though not all songs are equal, but many are excellent.

I am a huge fan of mike watt and there are some really good songs on this album, but this record has no flow and it is quite eratic. you can't go wrong with the lineup of musicians on this though!!! thurston moore,Henry Rollins, J mascis, Flea!!!!! it's insane!!! the high point on this record is defintily the playing!!!.... the lyrics are all about Watt and his days from Pedro.

This rare and out of print version of 'Ball-Hog or Tugboat' has the same track listing as the non-limited edition, but contains some rather cool extras including: Extended cover art listing all of the artists that appear on the release, an 8-page "Pedro Speak" booklet, which is a glossary of Watt's lingo as well as being housed in the long out of print and obsolete long box packaging.

Here are some of the liner notes not included above:

Produced by Mike Watt
all songs written by watt except sexual military dynamics
(c)1995 tHUNDERsPIELS/dead man - imago music, inc. (bmi)
recorded may 29th - september 11th, 1994 at various locations
mixed at the Sony Studios in nyc
recorded by John Hanlon
mixed by David Kahne
mastered by the truly righteous John Golden of John Golden Mastering

how can ya go wrong with all the biggest names in punk rock on one album . well ya cant, hosted buy mike watt (bass master man)this is the ultimate punk rock super star album bringing some of the greatest punks out of the wood work that any tribute album could hope for in one jamm .including members of pearl jam/nirvana/frank black/soul asylum/saccharine trust/circle jerks/ germs/bikini kill/sonic youth/beastie boys./dinosaur jr./lemon heads/spot/henry rollins/flea/janes addiction/meat puppets/ and more.. this album just has so much in it that if you listened to it for a week you still might not get it all....wonderfull!!!!!! buy buy buy...