I'll get to reviewing this album at some point but I do think it's worth mentioning that the "inconsistent mix" people talk about here actually has nothing to do with the mix at all, Contrary to what I also thought when first hearing this thing back in 2017.

(It was mixed & mastered by Tom Baker who's done many high quality releases including Orgy's Vapor Transmission)

What's really going on is the EP does not currently exist in lossless audio quality ... read more

Honestly surprised it took this long for them to finally release this track standalone knowing it's been a staple of their setlists since Larkin joined in 2002.

Ultimately I don't think anything's touching the Changes DVD version but this is still really solid, And a step above what it was during the 2017-2023 period.

Pretty crazy that this concert staple merely started out as a live extended cut of "Get Up, Get Out" that existed solely because of Sully's roots ... read more

So... Does anyone here remember Huck Johns? *crickets*

Curiosity got the best of me again and this album honestly feels like something Josh Todd would put out for a solo release... And of course by that I mean it's a clusterfuck of styles being strung together by an even less talented hack.

Sonically this project is all over the place, Featuring elements of Sleaze Rock, Post-Grunge, Country Rock, Rap Rock, Pop Rock, Alternative Metal, And none of the styles are executed particularly ... read more

Better than "Monsters" for sure.

Sonically it's very reminiscent of Grunge/Early Post-Grunge power ballads of the 90's, And Wes doesn't sound as scratchy when compared to his performances on Kiss The Machine.

I'd say my only real gripe is the vocal mix doesn't pack enough of a punch, So kinda the exact opposite of the issues I had with "Monsters". (Being that it was overproduced)

Not that I'd call it bad by any means, Cause it does fit in ... read more

Interesting tidbit: Everyone's already aware that this remix was produced by Jay Gordon of Orgy.

But upon recent discovery it appears that this remix was a co-creation between Jay and John Magness of the obscure Nu-Metal band Sins of a Divine Mother, Known for their song "Broken" that was supposed to appear in the Shadow The Hedgehog video game soundtrack.

This was confirmed by Magness' son Jake Magness in a 2022 interview, And recently by Sins producer + A2/Mona Lisa ... read more

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this song yet.

I've always been one who appreciates when Wes writes about his own personal struggles, But the thing that kind of takes me out here is that this track doesn't sound like Puddle Of Mudd at all. Rather, It sounds like Machine Gun Kelly tried writing a song in the style of Avril Lavigne's self titled era and this was the end result.

There's a noticeable amount of autotune being used that doesn't really sit right ... read more

At last... After close to two years since I initially began this Puddle Of Mudd listening journey, We have finally made it to the band's last major label outing "Ubiquitous", Released on September 8, 2023.

To address the obvious real fast, At the time of this marathon's conception this was in fact the band's final release up to that point, But due to several different factors I ended up having to extend it well into the "Kiss The Machine" album cyle, Which ... read more

Decided to give this a spin out of curiosity and good lord... This album is fucking awful.

I don't even think it's bad in an enjoyable way either, There's a couple of songs that are at least fun to laugh at such as "The Noose" and "Zodiac", But the rest primarily boils down to generic riffs that drone on for way too long, Supplied by some of the worst mixing and vocal performances I have ever heard in my entire life.

The closest this album gets to anything ... read more

Continuing on with the Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective, Today I will finally be taking a look at the band's fifth studio album "Welcome To Galvania" Released on September 13, 2019. A whopping eight years since the band's last official studio release and an entire decade following "Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate".

This album is often considered the blacksheep of the band's discography, As it's critical reception among the general public sort ... read more

This song is essentially a less good, Pop-Punk version of "Here's To Never Growing Up" and "Rock N Roll" but it's not too bad.

Lyrically it's about as immature as most of everything on "Love Sux", And the song overall is still a bit too overproduced for my liking. But for a pre-tour single it gets the job done well enough. I'd rather listen to this over 95% of what "Love Sux" has to offer, If that counts for anything.

I should preface this review by saying that I am a fan of Puddle Of Mudd's music relatively speaking, And have been since I first listened to both Abrasive and the Stuck EP back in 2019.

As is the case with most of the Post-Grunge genre, I recognize that their music isn't the most original thing out there and their sound rarely tends to expand much further past making standard 2000's era radio rock. But Wes Scantlin has always had a knack for writing really catchy hooks ... read more

Continuing on with the Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective, Today I will be taking a look at the band's ""fifth"" studio album "Re:(disc)overed" Released on August 30, 2011.

I was debating for a while on whether or not this album should be included in the marathon given that it is just your run-of-the-mill covers album, But since it did end up being the last studio project the band would release for almost an entire decade I figured that it wouldn't hurt to at ... read more

I'm not sure why, But I actually kinda like this song?

Don't get me wrong, There are obviously still issues in regards to Wes' vocals sounding weak and the lyric writing being your typical smut-rock fare. But the production is actually solid, The instrumentation feels like classic Mudd, And the melodies are pretty catchy.

It's like a combination of Control & Spaceship and it's not half bad. Definitely a much better lead off single compared to "My Baby" ... read more

Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective Bonus:

Spaceship (Acoustic) - 1 (15) | Whether it's electric or acoustic, This song still blows.

Better Place (Acoustic) - 7 (70) | Not as emotional as the regular song, But still pretty decent all things considered.

Stoned (Acoustic) - 7 (75) | Surprisingly better than I thought it would be.

Crowsfeet - 8 (85) | The fact that "Spaceship", "PItchin' A Fit", And "Hooky" made it onto the tracklist and this great song ... read more

Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective Bonus:

Cast Away - 5 (55) | What is this album's obsession with stupid intros? If they're supposed to come across as "cool" they are having the opposite effect.

But aside from that, This song is... Whatever, It's got decent energy and the melodies are fine. But I can see why this didn't make the album proper.

Reason - 5 (55) | This song later appears on their follow up album "Volume 4" so I won't spend much time ... read more

Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective Bonus:

Life Ain't Fair - 7 (70) | Decent Post-Grunge hard rocker, But I can see why it didn't make the album proper. The chorus is ironic cause life did in fact break Wes

Daddy - 6 (60) | Extremely juvenile, And Wes sounds a bit too whiny for my liking. But the intrumentation is solid and I do like the bridge. Another song that's a lot better live than in the studio. Consider it a guilty pleasure

Bleed - 9 (90) | Great song, Leans heavily into the ... read more

Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective Bonus:

Abrasive - 9 (95) | I'll go into more detail about this song when I get to reviewing the 1997 release itself, But for now I will say that "Abrasive" is just shy of making my Top 5 out of the bands entire discography. And I very much welcome its inclusion.

Control (Acoustic) - 7 (70) | As far as acoustic renditions are concerned, This version is decent. It's nothing I'd ever go out of my way to listen to but definetly better than a ... read more

Continuing on with the Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective, Today I will be taking a look at the band's fourth studio album "Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate" (Garbage album title), Released on December 8, 2009.

After they were able to successfully rebound their career off of "Famous" and its several radio hits, The band decided to take a bit of a different approach with this release and produce an album that continues in the pop-rock/adult contemporary ... read more

Continuing on with the Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective, Today I will FINALLY be taking a look at the band's third studio album "Famous", Released on October 9, 2007.

Now so far I have mostly been positive regarding everything I've said about the band's music up to this point, But "Famous" in particular marks a very interesting period in their career for me as it's an album designed to be a course correction from Life On Display's disappointing ... read more

Continuing on with the Puddle Of Mudd Retrospective, It's time for me to take a look at the band's 2003 sophomore release "Life On Display".

Admittedly I'm getting to reviewing this one a lot later than I originally intended, But this album was honestly much more difficult for me to formulate my opinions on as I have a much stronger connection to it than I ever did with Come Clean. In fact, It was the first Puddle Of Mudd album I listened to all the way through ... read more