Rise To Your Knees

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Album Information

Total Tracks: 15   Total Length: 67:30

eMusic Review 0

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Britt Robson

eMusic Contributor

Britt Robson has written about jazz for Jazz Times, downbeat, the Washington Post and many other publications over the past 30 years. He currently writes regula...more »

04.22.11
Pledge allegiance to refried guitar screeds and sardonic, purposefully ragged wisdom…
2007 | Label: Anodyne Records / IODA

The much-ballyhooed return of Cris Kirkwood, gone five years from drug addiction and a jail term, matters mostly for the creative boost it provides older brother Curt Kirkwood, who accounts for about 95% of the Pups'sensibility. Cris and Curt's sibling vocal harmonies provide instant Grateful Dead flashbacks (without the acid) and the gleaming pluck of Cris's guitjo (a guitar-banjo hybrid) is the distinctive highlight of “Tiny Kingdom.” But one pledges allegiance to the Meat Puppets for Curt's refried guitar screeds and the sardonic, purposefully ragged wisdom of his songwriting, and Knees has both in abundance. The first guitar solo on “Fly Like the Wind” is spectral and scalding and the last, on “Light the Fire,” is guttural and rude; in-between are psychedelic blowouts like “Disappear” and churning chordal pop-rock like “Spit.”

As for the songcraft, “Disappear” could be a hit on head-banger radio, “Stone Eyes” has a subversively winsome melody, and the lyrical sentiments of “Enemy Love Song” are syrup tinged with battery acid. Throw in Curt's dense, decidedly unslick production and he's once again turbocharged a resplendent power trio (new drummer Ted Marcus is generally indistinguishable from old drummer Derrick Bostrom). Comparisons to past classics such as the… read more »

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Rising Above

william_benton

Meat Puppets history is a dizzy one with ups'n'downs and all arounds...and if you're reading this then you probably are at least somewhat orientated.... "Rise to Your Knees" is an excellent return to form. Songs like "Spit" and "On the Rise" will certainly satisfy any and all Puppets fans. While "Vultures" and "Tiny Kingdom" rank among THE BEST songs the Puppets have ever recorded. For real. A very satisfying return.

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Getting back to what made them distinctive

Muddyrich

pretty impressed by this album. this is the kind of music that influenced Cobain. as opposed to vice-versa.

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Puppets can grow too...

2perishable

I am so glad the Meat Puppets rarely repeat themselves. I have been a fan ever since the Out My Way EP blew me away back in the mid 80s. I have liked every album since. I am mainly writing this to rebutt what the previous reviewer wrote. If this sounds like it was recorded in warehouse, maybe it's time to upgrade your sound system. I think it sounds as good as the mid 90s stuff. And finally, your not really a Puppets fan if you are looking for pop hooks. The guitar work is great throughout

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Not worth the wait

skinny0ne

The first thing I notice is the horrible recording quality. In the days of affordable computer-based studios, it's shocking that a CD could be made of such horrible quality. Most demo CDs by unsigned bands sound better. It sounds like it was done over 2 days with a few mics set up in a warehouse studio. Next, the album just meanders on and on through the midway point. There are no catchy hooks, no great guitar work or quirky charm. It's just terrible. By the middle, it sort of hits its stride and has a few pretty good songs. But, they are ruined by the sound quality. Songs like "New Leaf" and "Disappear" are probably excellent live. But, horrible EQ, reverb, and balance between the instruments suck all the life out of these songs. I'm certainly hoping that their next will be much better.

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Not bad, but not great, either...

Bobby-Bojangles

This is an album that I'm guessing will grow on me with more listens. As it stands right now, after the first go-round, I am slightly disappointed. I was hoping for more harder-rocking Meat Puppets, like their albums Too High to Die, or even No Joke!. This album consists almost entirely of mellower songs (I don't dislike the lighter stuff, but was hoping for more rocking tunes than were there.) This album sounds more like Up on the Sun-era Meat Puppets than the band that hit big much later with "Backwater". If you're looking for hard-edged rock, you won't get it here. If you're someone who got into the Meat Puppets after listening to Too High to Die (like me), then you're probably going to be disappointed. But if you're a long-term fan hungry for new Meat Puppets, then by all means, give it a shot.

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They're back!

cddunham

Great band! GREAT live (see this tour!). Great that Cris is alive and playing with his brother again!

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Forwards & Backwards

wallbanger

The first two tracks set the tone for their best album since "Too High To Die." Like that album, there are great melodic hooks, prominent guitars and crisp production. The mood of "Rise To Your Knees", however, beckons further back in the catalog. The restrained, druggy vocals certainly remind one of the early SST years. And looking forward, Kirkwood is an improved lyricist. Nice touch! A few curveballs get thrown: a banjo shows up on track 4; "Vultures" has a guitar freakout that feels like Hitchcock's "The Birds", and the final track is pure growling, uptempo fun. Thanks to eMusic for the advance release! I listened several times without knowing that brother Chris is back in the fold (I'm accustomed to hearing his voice like a Dave Davies to Ray Davies). After Curt's lovely solo album "Snow", this is wonderful, amplified changeup. Great guitar!

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Long awaited return of the Kirkwood Bros.

rpeacefuld

This has been the only cd I have listened to for 2 days. I love it and the place it takes me to. Download recommended!!

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Exceeded Expectations

drmgc99

Forever immortalized by Nirvana covering earlier work on their Unplugged set, Meat Puppets exceed everything I personally expected from this new album. Download without hesitation if you are missing the 90s.

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They Say All Music Guide

While the Meat Puppets wisely resisted the temptation to call this album “Cris Kirkwood’s Back,” in many respects the return of the group’s troubled bass player signifies an effort by the Pups to reclaim their former glories. Recorded in a simple, straightforward fashion, with guitarist and vision guy Curt Kirkwood in the producer’s chair and released by an independent label, Rise to Your Knees harkens back to the Meat Puppets’ glory days on SST, though the often chunky guitar tone and rhythmic stability has more in common with Too High to Die and Forbidden Places than the playful, sunburnt joy of Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun. Rise to Your Knees gives off an amiable, laid-back vibe that’s cleaner and more technically accomplished than the classic recordings of the Meat Puppets’ first era, but still glimmers with the Kirkwood Brothers love of ballsy psychedelia, and while Curt Kirkwood has given himself more impressive guitar showcases in the past, the noisy assault of “Light the Fire,” “Vultures” and “Disappear” will satisfy fans hoping to hear him show off his estimable skills, though his touch doesn’t seem to be quite as light or as sure as it once was. Rise to Your Knees feels like an effort by the Meat Puppets to give their most loyal fans what they want — trimming the lineup back to a three piece after recording 2000s Golden Lies as a quartet and losing a bit of the pop polish they picked up during their days on a major label — and it certainly delivers a fair share of the goods, but unfortunately there aren’t any songs here that can stand beside “Lake of Fire,” “Up on the Sun” or “Paradise,” and ultimately, this music sounds good when you keep wishing for it to be great. Given the hard road the Kirkwood Brothers have had to follow since last recording together, the mere fact they’ve been able to come together to make an album as solid and coherent as Rise to Your Knees is little short of miraculous, but it pales in comparison to the Meat Puppets best music and suggests that they still have a ways to go before they’re fully back in fighting shape. – Mark Deming

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