Rating: - Progressive Music Lives Again!
There has been a recent trend with progressive music, where the focus is all about playing an ungodly time signature and/or playing scales at lightning speed and calling it a solo, somewhere in the 20+ minutes of the song. Ever since Dream Theater turned to cold, overly complex metal, there have been a myriad of followers (copycats) who have done something of an injustice to the world of progressive music. After hearing so many bands like that, I became disenchanted by the progressive scene and went about dabbling in other genres of music for a long time....until I discovered a strange, almost entirely unknown entity called Amy X Neuburg & Men.

You can tell right from the get-go that this is going to be one heck of a ride, as a fun, jazzy riff plays while the men shout "Sports! Chips! Booty!" From there, the bands opens lightly into "Big Barbecue", which features a great marimba-based verse and an explosive chorus as Amy sings beautifully about backyard America. The music here is not the cold, technical prog we've been fed over the past few years. In fact it sacrifices a lot of technicality for melodicism, and it's VERY catchy!

From here, the band jumps into my personal favorite track, "Naked Puppets". After a strange intro from Joel's "Buchla LIGHTNING infra-red motion sensor thingy", guitarist Herb Heinz jumps into a chugging riff supported by thundering toms, which is then graced by Amy's lilting voice as she comments about the various influences around her that tell her "what to wear". About halfway into the song, the band jumps into a fast-paced breakdown section that slowly evolves into a silly, dance-happy Jewish Hora tune designed to get you on your feet (especially with the crazy xylophone solo!).

If I were to continue the review like this, however, I'd be detracting from my main point. All of the songs on this album are challenging and complex, but they're also memorable, because they've been specially crafted with a keen sense of pop melody, much like the radio singles from prog bands in the 70s (Yes, Rush, Genesis, etc). This is a unique and difficult-to-master talent, and Amy X Neuburg & Men have managed to pull it off. I find it very difficult to enjoy listening again and again to the likes of Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stratovarius, and their ilk. The songs just tend to be too much show, not enough stick. Speaking of stick, Sports! Chips! Booty! is one of the few albums I've heard that uses stick playing (stick bass and stick guitar). This album is - hands-down - my new favorite, simply because I find it difficult to stop liking all the tracks!

Final moments of note: aside from Naked Puppets, there's a bizarre barbershop-quartet style a capella track (The Shower Song), a cover of King Crimson's "Waiting Man", Amy's soothing, jazzy vocals on "Orange County" and the chug-n-thunk of the closer "Alabama Song".

In closing, I highly recommend this album for fans of off-kilter pop-prog, or those looking for something different. If you like Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and/or Adrian Belew's solo albums - without the excesses - this is for you. You won't regret buying this album!