785. Scatterbrain / Scamboogery. 1991. 2/5

After the somewhat phenomenal success of their debut and previous album Here Comes Trouble, it was a fait accompli that I was going to buy their follow up, with the absolute expectation that it would be as good, if not better, than that album.

Error.

This isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it isn't any different either. Well, it is different in a couple of ways. There is no song here that grabs you like "Here Comes Trouble" or "Down With the Ship" or "I'm With Stupid". They are all performed well, they all fit together like an album should, but there is no hook, nothing to grab you and insist that you MUST listen to this album again and again and again. And perhaps the best indication of this is that it was their second and final release.
Perhaps the gravest error they have made is that the songs SOUND like the songs from the first album, and in some cases, such as "Tastes Just Like Chicken" and "Scamboogery" they even have the same song format as some of those from the first album. Now, is this just because this is what the band's style is, and so the songs are similar? Or were they looking for a similar sound so as to link to the first album and hopefully have fans of that album love this one just as much? Or (and possibly closer to the truth) did they just not have any huge ideas for a follow up, and stuck to the same game plan in the hope it would sound original and a progression from the first album?

Overall, you would think this would be as much fun as their previous album, and it just isn't. It's probably a pretty good indication that Scatterbrain was a one trick pony, and that lightning couldn't strike twice. In the end it is a shame more than a disappointment.

Rating:  Odds stacked against you, tough odds to beat.  2/5