No Strings Attached (1990)

Steeped in meandering acid rock, country western, and punk, Phoenix's Meat Puppets mold Curt Kirkwood's off-pitch singing and fluid guitar virtuosity into a rugged musical desert with refreshing oases. Beginning with a noisy 1982 single, this extensive career retrospective unfolds to reveal the crystalline riffing that now endears the trio to fans of the Grateful Dead. No Strings Attached closes with tracks from last year's rockier Monsters album, reviewing the Meat Puppets' past as a prelude to their major-label future. B-

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