Mother Superior "SIN" Review
By Sanjay Krishnan, 3/25/02
Track by track....1. Stange Change - Pounding lead off track. Straight up rocker in true MS style. Great walking bass line, funk breakdown with some hot soloing by Jim...NICE
2. Talk to the Future - Very disjointed riff, with some bombastic drumming by Jason. Some of the melodies have a very Beatles-esque quality to them, especially the slow down middle section. Jason's drumming definitely makes this one slam...Actually, some of the riffs remind me of Kiss...hmm...
3. Pretty In the Morning - What a fuckin groove. If this one doesn't move you, you might be dead. Heavy jam that makes me want to Get Some...right now.
4. Jaded Little Princess - Great tune. Acoustic groove on demand. This is one catchy song. Simple, direct, and to the point.
5. Spinnin' - Smoke filled bar room slow down blues, with a great vocal performance by Jim, especially on the outro. The lead tone is spot on, just dirty enough. Mother Superior were born to play this stuff, it sounds effortless and amazing as always...
6. Rolling Boy Blues - Blues shuffle, with some great slide work! Some nice harmonica spots as well. The middle has a slammin double time kneck crunching groove. Another great Jason propelled tune...
7. Ain't Afraid of Dying - Jason on lead vocals. This track is damn punishing, huge groove, probably the heaviest song on the album. Jim's guitar sounds like it's in pain during the solo, killer.
8. Fool Around - Another slow down blues tear jerker number. Jim puts in another great vocal performance, and some great guitar work, very Hendrixy chord work going on in the verses, and the solo, well, it's on fire.
9. Downtown Tom's Medicine # 2 - Mid-temp groover with some nice slide work. Very bare bones arrangement, kinda reminds me of the Stones. Has that menicing guitar groove throughout...
10. Rocks - Catchy tune. Mid temp rocker, almost has a country-ish feel to it. Again, reminds me of a Stones tune, and it will get stuck in your head.
11. Fade Out, Wounded Animal - The EPIC. Clocking in at just under 13 minutes. The first Fade Out section has a very "dark" feel to it as opposed to the other songs on the album. Yet another great groove. Wounded Animal really kicks in the minor feel, especially in the lyrics. What a groove! The whole thing conjurs up Neil Young for me. Probably my favorite tune on the album, and the playing is just damn awesome...
Album Info:
Jim - Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Harmoica, Organ
Marcus - Bass, Vocals, Lead vocals on "Spinnin'", Acoustic Guitar
Jason - Drums, Vocals, Lead vocals on "Ain't Afraid of Dying"
Additional Musicians:
Brian Kehew - Organ on "Spinnin'"
Mike Curtis - Acoustic guitar on "Rocks"Produced by Mother Superior with Sander De Jong
Executive Producer : Henry Rollins
Engineers: Sander De Jong, Cliff Norrell, Tom Grimly
Studio's : Cherokee Studios, Paramount Studios,Tom's
Cover Artwork by Raymond Pettibon