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):
Without a doubt, the last few months have not been toppermost for Blues Traveler frontman John Popper. First, the extra-large singer did some time in hospital after surgery related to heart issues. Then the band’s drug-abusing original bassist Bobby Sheehan up and died.
Thankfully, none of that impacts Zygote — the album was recorded before all that, back when Popper was still in a party mood. And fittingly, this disc is a musical celebration of sorts, with Popper playfully stretching out and leading his musicians through a houseful of new styles — the white-boy funk of opening track Miserable Bastard, the folky sitar groove of His Own Ideas, the Santana-esque bossa nova rock of Evil In My Chair — in addition to the breezy, Canned Heat-style roots-blues you’d expect. Blues Traveler’s future may be uncertain right now, but Zygote shows Popper needn’t worry about his own commercial prospects.
