This came out in 2000 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Talk about making up for lost time.
After disappearing from the pop-culture radar for more than five years, these venerable folk-punk geeks have issued not one but two discs in the past few months. First was the electrifying acoustic live album Viva Wisconsin; now this long-awaited studio album, their first since 1994’s New Times. This one could have been called Old Times; despite the years away, Gordon Gano and the boys haven’t changed a bit. He still yips, yawps and yelps his way through these 14 songs like David Byrne hooked up to a caffeine IV; the tunes still have those deceptively simple melodies and child-like lyrics about sad girls, bad boys and madmen; and the band still thrash and smash endearingly like the former buskers they are. Get your freak on.
