// 1983 Meat Puppets - II

// massmirror
// password: spaceisland.blogspot.com

Meat Puppets II is the second album by the Tempe, Arizona band the Meat Puppets. It is completely unlike their self-titled debut album, which was furious noisy hardcore with unintelligible vocals, which were more nonsensical screams than lyrics. It covers many genres from country-style rock which is almost bluegrass at times ("Magic Toy Missing", "Climbing", Lost") to slow acoustic songs ("Plateau", "Oh Me") to psychedelic guitar effects ("Aurora Borealis") to hard rock ("Lake of Fire"). Rykodisc reissued the album in 1999 with extra tracks and b-sides, including a cover of the Rolling Stones' Aftermath-era track "What To Do."

The term "cowpunk" has been used to describe the blend of punk and country found on this album and elsewhere in the Puppets' catalogue; they are generally credited as being the main pioneers of this style.^{[citation needed]}

It is also known for its unique cover art. On the back of the original vinyl, the art is credited to Curt Kirkwood and Neal Holliday.

The Meat Puppets' SST labelmates The Minutemen covered "Lost" on the EP Tour-Spiel and their last studio album, 3-Way Tie (For Last). Three of the album's songs were covered by Nirvana during their "Unplugged" show for MTV ("Plateau", "Oh, Me", and "Lake of Fire").

Track listing

1. "Split Myself in Two" – 2:22
2. "Magic Toy Missing" – 1:20
3. "Lost" – 3:24
4. "Plateau" – 2:22
5. "Aurora Borealis" – 2:44
6. "We're Here" – 2:40
7. "Climbing" – 2:41
8. "New Gods" – 2:09
9. "Oh, Me" – 2:59
10. "Lake of Fire" – 1:54
11. "I'm A Mindless Idiot" – 2:26
12. "The Whistling Song" – 2:56