by Greg Prato
The Meat Puppets' second album, 1984's appropriately titled Meat Puppets II, has since gone down in the rock history books as an all-time classic, and rightfully so. The Meat Puppets were one of the first punk acts to inject different musical styles into their sound, something that was an absolute no-no at the time -- especially the sparkling sounds of country. The trio resembles a more conventional band than on their white-noise self-titled debut; the songwriting had improved dramatically, and you could even clearly decipher the playing and singing this time around. As many '90s alt-rock fans know, Meat Puppets II reached a whole new generation of fans when Nirvana covered the album's three best tracks on their MTV Unplugged special from 1994 -- &Plateau,& &Lake of Fire,& and &Oh, Me.& But this was an incredibly consistent recording from beginning to end; other highlights included the instrumentals &Magic Toy Missing,& &Aurora Borealis,& and &I'm a Mindless Idiot,& the rockers &Split Myself in Two& and &New Gods,& plus such mellower fare as &Lost,& &We're Here,& &Climbing,& and &The Whistling Song.& An essential recording that sounds as fresh and inviting as the day it was released.