This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Make that New Days Of The New.
After making their mark with their post-grunge debut disc and the single Touch, Peel And Stand, Days’ leader Travis Meeks fired the rest of his trailer-trash bandmates over the ubiquitous “creative differences” and is now forging ahead on his own a la Axl Rose. And like Rose, his ego seems to have gotten the better of him. Days Of The New II is a sprawling, unsatisfyingly overambitious concept piece about pain, loss and rebirth, painstakingly recorded with choirs, an orchestra, and epic-length acoustic-guitar-driven roots-prog excursions on which Meeks plays most instruments. Brave and challenging it may be — but entertaining, unfortunately, it ain’t. For the most part, Meeks’ reach exceeds his grasp; he’s spent too much time indulging his grand ambitions and not enough time writing decent songs, meaning Days Of The New II will be remembered not as the awesome achievement it could have been but as the massive ego trip it really is.
