For some reason this album didn’t do that well, but I think it’s the last great one they did (and also, not coincidentally, the last to feature drummer Bill Berry). I still own the albums they made after this, and have even seen them live post-New Adventures, but more out of nostalgia than because I think they’re still doing vital work. They have managed to come up with the occasional song that recaptures the old magic, but this was basically the last album I considered myself a fan of. The most underrated record in their canon, IMO. I voted for “New Test Leper” over “Electrolite” just because I figured it wouldn’t get as many votes, but “The Wake-Up Bomb”, “Undertow”, “Departure”, “So Fast, So Numb” are all deserving of praise.
I really, really, really like this album. Which kind of surprised me, as I remember reading some mediocre reviews of it before I bought it. “Electrolite” is one of my favorite pop songs, period, but I do like a lot of other songs, especially “How the West was Won and Where it got Us” and “E-Bow the Letter”.
I have to say that “New Test Leper” is one of my least favorite songs. While musically pleasing, I think the lyrics are just…pretty dumb.
For me, it had to be “Electrolite”, it being the most overt pop song. But I also love “New Test Leper”, “E-Bow the Letter”, “Undertow”, “Departure”, and “Bittersweet Me”.