Heavy Vegetable
"Frisbie" CD (Headhunter)
By now, you know that this band has split up. Everything on this album points up what a sad-ass fact that is. This was a band that had huge chops - technically, artistically, etc. While these two-to-three minute songs might be passed off as mere mirth-making, they are nothing less than songwriter/guitarist Rob Crow's brilliant observations on a fucked up, funny world. Add to that Elea Tenuta's mesmerizing voice, Travis Nelson's jazz-rock bass, and Manolo Turner's time-signature defying drumming, and you have simply one of the best units ever to come out of San Diego. And one of the best albums I've heard in the past year or so. HV was/is astounding in so many ways that it defies "criticism." Settle for: brilliant. (PHILIP)