[Kate Adams]

Okay.  So I finally purchased a copy of Capricornia and test drove it last 
night.  (yeah, I know it took me a while ... I feel like I got poisoned by 
mother's apple pie in late February and haven't gotten out much since I got 
home).  Anyway, I chose retire early to take a first listen on the 
admittedly crappy boombox in my room.

I've heard a lot of talk about how much this album has in common with D&D 
and BSM.  But my first feel for it had me wondering if they would reprise 
When Ned Kelley Was King, or if Garrett would burst out in "If the Quinella 
comes in today" in the middle of Under the Overpass.  I think this one has 
some serious Postcard DNA going through it, with a few Head Injuries for 
leavening.

Capricornia is, in my mind the weakest cut ... it almost sounds like the 
theme to a TV historical dramady called Capricornia or something.  And it 
wasn't just the crappy sound quality of the first listen ... it was just as 
annoying on my living room stereo too.

That said, I like Golden Age, and really love the harmonies on Too Much 
Sunshine.  Tone Poem rocks on too.  I know that Say Your Prayers isn't 
really new, but I like it best of all cuts on this one ... can't keep my 
rear end still when that's on.  I do wish they would showcase Bonesy's 
sweet, sweet voice more often ... I loved his solo on this album and on One 
Country, and I thought the interplay of Bones and Pete on Redneck 
Wonderland's Return to Sender was utterly fantastic.  PG's voice can get 
grating and overdriven and Bones takes the edge off it quite nicely.

I fell asleep during the second listen and soon realized that listening to 
the Oils is much less about the music and lyrics at face value and more 
about what the songs can evoke on a deeper, more visceral level.  Drifting 
in and out I started to fade back to my childhood world in Eastern Oregon 
... dusty crimson sun into gold sunsets, too many stars to pick out the 
constellations, tumbleweeds, sage and juniper, and a flat, wide open barren 
land that changes its clothes with the seasons, the weather, and the time 
of day.  There's the comparison to Diesel and Dust!  I began to think of 
taking my kids back to see the Oregon Trail remnants, the Lewis and Clark 
monuments, the testaments to the Nez Pierce, Cayuse, Umatilla peoples, and 
the towns that changed and the towns that didn't when I-80 came 
through.  And to teach them the proper way to catch a "highway" snake, of 
course.

Luritja Way in particular made me remember the first time I heard 
Bullroarer.  Before the lyrics hit Bullroarer transformed me into a six 
year old again, in the back of the old Ford Falcon on a family road trip, 
staring at the phone poles whipping by at that same cadence as the 
beat.  Fading evening light picking out details of the dusty lion's paws of 
the eastern part of the Columbia River Gorge, and the temperature rapidly 
falling from the blistering heat of the day to the striking chill of the 
desert night on winds laden sage and juniper and the egg carton aroma of 
locust trees at the edge of every town.  Then I played Bullroarer for my 
brother and he said "I feel like I'm nine or ten and riding in the back of 
the Falcon on our way to ...".  Both songs have that making good time on 
the road in a very wide open and dusty space feeling.  I'll have to see 
what my brother says about Luritja Way.

I played Capricornia again this morning on the upstairs stereo and I must 
say it sounded much better that way, particularly the vocals.  But my basic 
impressions didn't change.  I did find it had one more thing in common with 
Diesel and Dust:  it rapidly disappeared into the playroom.  Too much Too 
Much Sunshine already!  Isn't playing Tone Poem six times enough?  Let me 
get the lyric sheet and I'll try to explain ...

******************************************************************************************************
Kate Adams
Doctoral Student
Epidemiology
Department of Work Environment
UMass Lowell
******************************************************************************************************
"There are a lot of people who as they get older get mellow. I don't like 
mellow music. I don't like mellow. Period."  -  Moe Tucker
******************************************************************************************************