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Motel California

Ugly Kid Joe - Motel California Audio CD

A fair review of the Ugly Kid Joe "Motel California" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ugly Kid Joe reviews here, or go back to the Ugly Kid Joe tabs.

Band: Ugly Kid Joe
Title: Motel California
Rating:

Release Date: 2001-04-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: It's a Life 2: Dialogue 3: Sandwich 4: Rage Against the Answering Machine 5: Would You Like to Be There 6: Little Red Man 7: Bicycle Wheels 8: Father 9: Undertow 10: Shine 11: Strange 12: 12 Cents

Third time unlucky

First up the production sounds dirtier. By the time this was released in the mid 90's UKJ - the band with the joke name done good - had seen their musical subgenre wane with the rise of another and been dropped from Mercury, having one last kick at the cat with Castle. Not that they were trying to be grunge and it's not the reduced budget that makes this less crisp sounding that their debut, it's just a contiunation of the development they'd undertaken with their second album that makes this release sound and feel grimy. That's not a problem for some albums but when part of the charm of UKJ was their deliberate humour the dirtier sonics don't help attempted joke tunes like Sandwich or Rage Against the Answering Machine where the listener spends some time straining to hear what the point of it all is.

However the vocal melodies over the very average riffs in the background are still there and Whitfield Cranes' voice seems to have gotten raspier over the years allowing him to take it in a different direction.

Musically the muddier vibe helps disguise the fact that these guys aren't exactly Yngwie Malmsteen types but the music does come across as being honest and there is twinges of California funk in the brew that adds some variety and is another welcome link to their former, bouncier, platters.

All up if you were a UKJ fan to start with you might as well pick this up to complete the trilogy of their full length albums as you should be able to get it cheap. If your just a generic hard rock/metal fan you can probably skip this, especially as I'm writing this in 2009 when so much other more mind blowing stuff has been released since this album slithered unannounced onto the shelves.
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Worth a listen
They were more-or-less one of the very last bands of the pop-metal genre to enjoy any success, with their heyday coinciding with the grunge/alt. While Ugly Kid Joe enjoyed success in the early 90s with there "As Ugly as they Wanna Be," (1991) EP and their "America's Least Wanted" (1992) album, the group was more-or-less a lash in the pan. movement.

1995's "Menace to Sobriety" failed to chart and the band was dropped from the Mercury roster. The band signed with Castle and in 1996 gave it one more try with "Motel California. "

Had "Motel California" been released just three years later, it could have been a hit. It is an exciting and entertaining hybrid of rock and rap, or what would later be termed "nu-metal. " "Motel California" sounds akin to Kid Rock's breakthrough smash "Devil Without a Cause,"(1998). Only "Motel California" is more lighthearted in nature and is more rock than rap.

This album just came out at the wrong time. Released three years earlier or three years later, with some promotion, it could have been a hit.

While, "Motel California" isn't a lost classic, it's definitely an enjoyable album that deserved more recognition than it got.
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This is what Korn and the Deftones should sound like
I got into this group back in 90 when i heard Whiplash Liquor, and loved that first EP. It is obvious listening to this cd, how much they were influenced by Korn and the Deftones. I only bought this cause of how good that one was, and it had a great CD cover. I expected the same kind of music as their older cd's-very 80's metal with a hint of nu-metal. This one was nu-metal with barely a hint of old metal!. This was a HUGE step forward for this band. It is not my favorite kind of music in the world-but they did these songs with so much originality and passion, they sound like they invented this kind of music!!! Bicycle Wheels is my favorite-and normally I don't care for rap. I could see how people who like their old stuff wouldn't like this, cause it really is a completely different kind of music-it's like comparing Cinderella with Slayer. This album is so inspiring that I put it on to get my creative juices flowing when I'm writing melodies . I used to think this group sounded like a hang-on from the hair-metal days. I honestly never thought this band could hang with the new metal guys-they not only hang with them-they outdo them!!! BRAVO Busy bee watching the world go by-----.

Very strong energy flow
UKJ sounds still funky, hard and melodic here but on the other hand a bit more cool than in the ones before it. "Motel California", the last album of Ugly Kid Joe, is much similar with its predecessor "Menace To Sobriety". "Motel California" has some rap influences. This record shows once again that UKJ is very adaptive band: For example, "It's a lie" is very aggressive and uplifting song but "Undertow" is very slow and melancholy. Ugly Kid Joe is a good example of a band which is melodic and hard in the same time. As its predecessor this record is very well-produced and sounds extremely sharp and strong. Those people who have listened to "America's Least wanted" only will find that UKJ sounds very modern and cool here. Because UKJ sounds so good here, it is very "ugly thing" that this is their last album. Anyway, UKJ has been and will be a very strong influence for many alternative rock/ new wave metal bands.

Motel California / Heavy, Funky and a total trip
According to the amazon sites it's now shifted 300 000 in america and 55 000 in the UK, clearly UKJ hit the world when they ventured out of santa barbara. This is a real stepping stone for the ugly kid californians, unfortunately it was to be the last, the promo was little, but the sales were pretty good (except america).

From start to finish, the whole 12 songs are diverse. Unlike the previosu 3, Motel takes a good few listens to breathe and encompass. . . . . Something ukj have always done throughout their 4 releases they pack a cocktail of unusual and highly infectious rock sounds. . . Motel is hard to sum up as a whole, there's trippy songs like sandwich and bicycle wheels, agressive punchy titles like it's a lie and then laidback cool, dark californian rock numbers like undertow and would you like to be there. . . whatever you do, whatever you buy, you need this album.

You can see a complete list of all Ugly Kid Joe discography, or go back to the Ugly Kid Joe tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.