Customer Reviews

Offering

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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This EP from the opening guitar chord is amazing. The EP is entirely acoustic with their mix of Alternative and Psychedelic rock and Folk. Again, the band delivers a stellar performance and truely show themselves with a passion. The acoustic set truely unites you with the band and the melodies and harmonies are beautiful. "Mother" is a standout with it's energetic feel, chants, and hand drum solo. "Last One" is a great remix of the original from their debut album and the covers "Dun Ringill" and "Wooden Ships" are mind-blowing. This collection of songs could be the very best of their entire career.

Peace,
Ben.

While touring in the summer of 1993, Animal Bag sat down in the home of a friend (the back cover says the album was "recorded in Ron's living room" in Hollywood) to record this quite impressive EP of seven songs. Their self-named debut album from fall of 1992 established this band as one of the great new talents of the decade, yet for whatever reason the instant fame they deserved never seemed to come. Ironically, this EP that truly shows the talent of these guys as musicians also serves as their swan's song of sorts. Their first album featured a lot of pretty heavy rocking, with incredibly powerful lyrics always rising above the fevered jamming. Offering, in contrast, is a much more subdued set of tracks that really do have the type of sound you might expect to hear if you suddenly asked the band to sit down at a party and play a few songs. There is much more than heavy guitar and drums to Animal Bag's music; it actually possesses an almost ethereal quality at times, especially on the final, basically instrumental track Moment. Each of these tracks is strikingly different from what you might expect from this group. They are almost calming in a sense, and lead singer Luke Edwards' unique voice can at times become almost hypnotically mesmerizing. Offering proves that Animal Bag had more than enough talent to make it big. Their songs really meant something, they connected with listeners in ways most rock bands simply cannot do. It's a pity that more people have never had a chance to listen to the music this great band released in the early 1990s.

This has been a favorite of mine since my purchase of it in the mid-nineties. In fact, it's one of the few albums of this genre still in my collection. Jethro Tull and Crosby, Stills & Nash covers round out a lovely collection of folk pop, but it's on their originals that Animal Bag really shine. The lyrics, if not exactly intellectual, are vague and inoffensive. If you're looking for an album similar to their eponymous debut, I wouldn't recommend it, though. This largely acoustic album is much more gentle, more like something you'd hear at a camp fire. My only complaint/warning - it's a very short album. (It's an EP, for those who remember such things!)