Not Good

Writing as a big fan of previous release, God Shuffled his feet, this is a big let down. It's an even greater disappointment, considering that I waited 8 years from its release date to finally sample its fruit. All that anticipation, every day of those 8 long years, for this prolix attempt to pass this cd off as art? Mind you, I'm as pretentious as the next guy, but there are some things I can't even pretend to get. Shout out to Robert Schumann though.

PROSAIC

After coming up with one of the most likeable albums of the 1990s `GOD SHUFFLED HIS FEET', CRASH TEST DUMMIES had to conjure up something special, as a follow up. Sadly, they couldn't. The follow up `A WORM'S LIFE', is somehow disappointing. Though the album is worth listening to, it is however, a very normal album, offering nothing more than a collection of strictly ordinary songs. There is nothing wrong about being prosaic. An album can be ordinary, and still be good. But, this particular commonplace album just seems seriously incomplete.

The album has some great songs, like the beautifully cacophonic `OVERACHIEVERS', the funny single `HE LIKED TO FEEL IT', the simple but inane `OUR DRIVER GESTURES', and the smartly written, `I'M OUTLIVED BY THAT THING?' Still, the album seems like a bit of a disappointment especially since it comes out as a follow up album to an absolute masterpiece. But, I don't think that my high expectation is alone responsible for the cause of my disappointment with this album. Even otherwise, without considering its predecessor, it would still seem as good/bad, as it does, now.

One of the main reasons, I feel is the change of `producers', for this album. After the brilliant production-work by Jerry Harrison on `GOD SHUFFLED HIS FEET', the band somehow felt that it is capable enough to `produce' an album on its own. The result - `A WORM'S LIFE' is `produced' by the band members, themselves, and the `production' lacks vitality. No song is bad in this album; but it seems as if the band hasn't done justice to most of them, making them sound as if they are mere demo versions of the songs.

A good `production' doesn't necessarily mean that an album should be layered. A good `production' can make the simplest song sound good, by just guiding the song in the right direction. This is what is lacking in this album: directionless songs. The band is not yet ready to take on the task of `production' of an album. `A WORM'S LIFE' could've been a whole lot better, had the band stuck to their old `producer', Jerry Harrison.

Simply Awesome

I like most everyone else got into CTD with the God Shuffled' CD by these folks. Very good CD, and I was quite wondering, at the time, what this would sound like... but I tell you this is my favorite CTD release. I really like it a lot, and the guitar playing is simply fine to hear.

Good songs, good stories, great tunes.