Customer Reviews

Let's Cut the Crap & Hook Up Later on Tonight

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Well, I first got a hold of this CD in starkville Ms. about 4 years ago, and let me just say it rocked my socks off...Marah is every hometown band that I grew up listening to in Starkville. They're sound is unbelievable, it's everything from Bluegrass to rock and so much more. I suggest you buy this cd and let your friends know about this band. Also check out their oher CDs you wont be diapointed...

This is one of the few rock albums lately to sound heartfelt, fun, smart, loose, and completely uncompromising. They are right with Wilco as the best rock bands in America. Much rootsier than "Kids In Philly", their more artistic follow up. If you like "Exile On Main Street"-era Stones (and what real music fan doesn't?) than you will love "Fever", "Formula, Cola, Dollar Draft", "Head On", "Limb", and most of the other songs here. It's not that these songs necessarily sound like that (although "Head On" would fit comfortably right after "Rip This Joint"), but they layer the instruments to make what I like to call a beautiful mess. The horns, banjos, bagpipes, pianos, and harmonicas add tremendous depth to the sound, as they all meld in with the guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. The songwriting is very good, if not as spectacular as on "Kids In Philly". "Firecracker" is a nice song but the lyrics may try too hard to project a 'downtrodden' singer. This album contains what I think is their best song, the above mentioned "Formula", which is ridiculously foot-tapping, but intellectual at the same time. Overall this album is not the stunning first listen that "Kids In Philly" is, maybe because it lacks the themetic unity so important on that album. However, after enough listens, the individual songs on "Cut the Crap" stand on their own, making this an album very much equal to it's successor. This is a band to watch. They treat their music as art, but go about creating it on this album with a alcohol tinged looseness missing from corporate rock. These songs have more heart and soul (not to mention brains) than the Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Limp Biscuit, and the countless other vapid bands that dominate radio these days combined. In the early nineties Nirvana kicked radio on it's ass. Maybe Marah will someday do the same.

Repeated listening shows the true greatness of this homemade disc. A little Vic Chessnut, a little pogues, a little stones, maybe some mats. How can you go wrong? It's real, it's good, and you should buy this cd.

Marah were the best live group I heard at this year's south by southwest festival in Austin. Whiskeytown, Wilco, Son Volt fans, this belongs in your collection.

I heard the buzz on Marah a few months ago. I came to this very page a number of times to listen to the tracks, but I never really liked what I heard in the few seconds of air time that are afforded. However, I read too may great things about this band to pass it up any longer. Let me say, it is the first album I have been truly excited about in years. I have already bought 2 copies for friends of mine. The music really sort of shrugs off comparisons to other bands. If forced to make some, I would say they don't really sound like this, but they feel like it....Exile era Stones, The Faces, the Band.The vibe of these bands is there. If you are wavering like I did, please don't, you will be mad that you didn't have this CD to listen to months ago.

The production Paul Smith has acomplished here is truly a masterpiece. It is also worth mentioning that Marah may actually be the last rock and roll band that actually matters. Buy this record, now.

Try as I might, I cannot stop listening to this CD. The melange of styles evident from song to song forbid this bunch from being musically pigeonholed. What is frightening is the band's acknowledgment that the album consists of "B-sides and Back Pocket" songs. Don't waste time searching for excuses. Put this CD in your shopping cart and find out when Marah will be coming to your burg.

Marah blows a breath of fresh and eclectic air into the alt-country (or whatever it's being called today) universe. There's a vast range of musical styles on this album. 'Eventually Rock' & 'Head On' insist that you turn up the volume. The rollicking "Fever", the dirty gospel ditty "Boat", & the philosophical "Baby Love" are all over the map, but they all have a 'damn, that's good" quality to them. They even got Phillies announcer Harry Kalas to intro "Rain Delay". I'm not a Phillies fan, but it's hard to not love Harry. The highlight for me is the insistent, relentless "Limb", which fades out into a mixture of bagpipes and some guy snoring. It's not exactly 'A Day in the Life', but it works.

All in all, a catchy, terrific album and one of the best of 98!

let's cut the crap and hook up latter on tonight is a great cd,with a great title i might add. it has remained one of my favorite cds since its release in early 1998,marah also puts on an amazing show!!

This is the best disc I've bought all year. A little bit of everything thrown in the musical mix. Philly should be proud.