The Meat Puppets' second album, 1984's appropriately titled Meat Puppets II, has since gone down in the rock history books as an all-time classic, and rightfully so. The Meat Puppets were one of the first punk acts to inject different musical styles into their sound, something that was an absolute no-no at the time — especially the sparkling sounds of country. The trio resembles a more conventional band than on their white-noise self-titled debut; the songwriting had improved dramatically, and you could even clearly decipher the playing and singing this time around. As many '90s alt-rock fans know, Meat Puppets II reached a whole new generation of fans when Nirvana covered the album's three best tracks on their MTV Unplugged special from 1994 — "Plateau," "Lake of Fire," and "Oh, Me." But this was an incredibly consistent recording from beginning to end; other highlights included the instrumentals "Magic Toy Missing," "Aurora Borealis," and "I'm a Mindless Idiot," the rockers "Split Myself in Two" and "New Gods," plus such mellower fare as "Lost," "We're Here," "Climbing," and "The Whistling Song." An essential recording that sounds as fresh and inviting as the day it was released.

(by Greg Prato, All Music Guide)

Das zweite Album war eine Abkehr vom noisigen Debüt. Die Country/Desert-Einflüße begannen sich im Sound durchzusetzen.

(Glitterhouse)

What does a band do when they're trying to follow-up a masterpiece? Release another masterpiece, of course. That's exactly what the Meat Puppets did with 1985's Up on the Sun. Issued one year after Meat Puppets II, the songwriting had become more focused, the performances were tighter, and Curt Kirkwood's vocals had progressed from a high-pitched warbling to a soothing monotone. Up on the Sun catches the Arizona trio in a relaxed mood, for the most part; the tunes aren't wound up as tightly as its predecessor, with the album-opening title track, the instrumental "Seal Whales," and "Hot Pink" being fine examples. Other highlights include "Maiden's Milk," which contains some great instrumental interplay between the bandmembers, as well as the upbeat "Away," the funky "Buckethead," the psychedelic "Two Rivers," and the furious "Enchanted Porkfist." As with the other 1999 Meat Puppets reissues on Rykodisc, rarities and demos are included as bonus tracks, including a haunting demo of the album's title track.

(by Greg Prato, All Music Guide)

Drei Monate verweilten sie für dieses Album in Studio und arbeiteten an diesem hoch-psychedelischen Werk, das im Frühjahr ´87 veröffentlicht wurde.

(Glitterhouse)

"The Meat Puppets at their psychedelic peak. A tightly crafted labor of love that took them more than three months to record, "Mirage" was released in Spring of 1987 to increasing interest from mainstream rock circles. Writing for the Washington Post, Joe Sasfy proclamed it "their finest, as close to a polished artistic arrival as you'd want from a frisky anti-pop band committed to musical spontaneity and adventure." And in the Los Angeles Reader, Chris Morris hailed "Mirage" as "rarified rock impressionism at its heightened best."

(vom Rykodisc-ReIssue)

As many Meat Puppets fans had realized by 1987's Mirage, the trio would change gears and broaden their sound with each successive album. This was never more apparent than on their fourth full-length release. Synthesizers were used to add textures to the tunes, while the drums sounded metronome-perfect, almost as if a drum machine was supplying the patterns. Strangely, although Mirage was the trio's most experimental album, it also turned out to be one of their most psychedelia-based works. The groovy little ditty "Get on Down" turned out to be one of the band's first videos aired on MTV, while the title track, the melodic "Leaves," the country rocker "Confusion Fog," the unrelenting "Beauty," and the album-closing punk freak-out "Liquified" are all standouts.

(by Greg Prato, All Music Guide)

“Huevos” erschien 1987 nur ein paar Monate nach dem eher experimentellen “Mirage”. Gitarrist Kurt Kirkwood war seit seiner Kindheit ein Fan von Z.Z. Top und Einflüße der bärtigen Texaner mischen sich hier mit den typischen, Meat Puppet´schen Unwägbarkeiten zu einem der straightesten Alben des Trios.

(Glitterhouse)

"Hard driving riff rock, Meat Puppets style. "Huevos" was recorded in four days and released less than six months after "Mirage". But where that album was spacey and lush, "Huevos" is rough and spontaneous. Writing for the Village Voice,Howard Hampton declared it to be "steeped in bliss", while in the the Los Angeles Times,Gina Arnold called it "the band's best effort yet"."

(vom Rykodisc - ReRelease)

"From out of the scrub brush on the edge of the desert comes a trio who were making their brand of music well before alt-country and Americana were the new thing to come down the pike. Don't get me wrong, I love the alt-America stuff, but there is something right and real about the Puppets and the songs they sing. This record is a bit more mellow than I remembered the first time around, but that in no way reduces the amount of pleasure to be gotten from a few repeated listenings. The cover art appears to be painted in thick layers in a slightly southwestern palette. Hey, any cover with a bottle of Tobasco on it is welcome at my table, any meal of the day."

(Tralfaz-Archive)

Recorded and released just a few months after the experimental Mirage, 1987's Huevos was a return to the Meat Puppets' earlier, more straight-ahead direction. The band (guitarist/singer Curt Kirkwood in particular) had always voiced their admiration of ZZ Top, and Huevos contained Billy Gibbons & Co.'s influence more than any other Puppets release. But don't be misled — it wasn't a ripoff, the trio simply incorporated ZZ's sound into their energetic, unpredictable rock. It also didn't hurt that Huevos contained the band's best set of songs since 1985's classic Up on the Sun, comprised almost entirely of heavy rockers ("Paradise," "Look at the Rain," "Crazy," "Fruit," "Automatic Mojo," "Dry Rain," etc.). Another major improvement of Huevos over Mirage was that Derrick Bostrom's drums no longer sounded metronome-perfect and robotic, giving the performances a much livelier edge. The bonus tracks included on the '99 Ryko reissue included several demos of Huevos tunes, including a lengthier and much more laid-back version of "Sexy Music," as well as a medley of "I Can't Be Counted On" and Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me to Do."

(by Greg Prato, All Music Guide)