by Matt Carlson
Though certainly an improvement over the stiff Far Gone, Straight Freak Ticket still fails to match the creative level and fuzzy warmth of 1992's Dayglo. Of course, the explosive pop fury on the opening &Fuzz Factory& won't convince you of this, because that song is the best one Love Battery has ever written. From that point, however, things get bleaker, despite the band's Beatles influence being more pronounced than usual. On many of the tracks, singer Ron Nine seems lost; other songs are dull and biteless. Love Battery does manage to create some great pieces of pop music; these points are scattered throughout the album, however.