ST 37

ST 37's second album for Austin's Emperor Jones label is probably their most cohesive and fully realized album yet, after over a decade and a half splitting the difference between such fellow central Texas eccentrics as Daniel Johnston (immortalized in the hardcore whine of "Daniel Says"), Roky Erickson (a sort of spectral presence felt throughout the album, much as all rockers from Lubbock are touched by the ghost of Buddy Holly), and the Butthole Surfers and the U.K. space rockers who are ST 37's true forebears. Hawkwind, as always, is the closest comparison, although that venerable band's science fiction fixation is replaced with a tongue-in-cheek obsession with Norse mythology, HP Lovecraft, and, on one cut more than a little reminiscent of Ummagumma-era Pink Floyd, "A Huge, Rare Cheese." The 14-minute freak-out "Valentine Alibi" and the particularly Hawkwind-like boogie "Caves of Ice" are particular standouts, but the highlight is a hypnotic cover of Pip Proud's "Sweet Thought" that may be the poppiest, most immediately accessible thing the band have ever done. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide