This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Two years ago, on their stunning breakthrough disc Electric Sweat, The Mooney Suzuki sounded like The MC5 and The Who jamming with Iggy Pop and The Dolls.
Now, with the ill-conceived help of hit-maker producers The Matrix — yes, the folks who made Avril Lavigne a teen-rock queen and gave Liz Phair her MILF makeover — these New York garage-rockers sound like Lenny Kravitz and Urge Overkill writing the soundtrack for a remake of Hair. Except that they wouldn’t sink low enough to release songs as cliched and cornball as Shake That Bush Again, Loose ’n’ Juicy, Messin’ In The Dressin’ Room, Naked Lady and (sigh) Love Bus. Hell, even the psychedelic cover art of Alive & Amplified is a bad mish-mash of great influences: half Santana, half Miles Davis.
Still, you have to give The Mooney Suzuki credit; once again, they only steal from the best. Too bad their crime doesn’t pay nearly as well on this predictable and disappointingly dumbed-down disc.
