3 out of 5

Label: 5 Minute Walk

Producer: Frank Tate

I do believe this was the first pseduo-hip-hop album Junk did, and got them a good share of press at the time.  It’s certainly the most ‘listenable’ to the lay-Junker, as the recording is very cleaned up and the beats straight-forward and easy.  For this reason it lends itself to being a singles album.  Some 3 1/2 minute tracks are radioish, with a good, memorable hook and a nice sample to keep it moving.  But there’s not enough variation to this style for a whole album, so despite some last minute changeups (and a better slo-ro track than his work on the next album), you tune out after hearing the same beat repeat for 30 minutes or so… sort of a constant challenge for the junk crew (or Glen Galaxy) – balancing his output with music chops to keep people engaged, perhaps a holdover from the slacky-skronk approach of Truman’s Water.

As mentioned, the album does pick up at the tail end after a dragging mid-section, but then you’re slammed into a SHITTY dance track (for reals) that goes on forever and ever and ever and I would think it’s a joke but man, it’s a bad one.