Mirage (Meat Puppets album)

Mirage
Studio album by Meat Puppets
Released	April 1987
Recorded	1986–1987
Studio	Chaton Studios, Phoenix, Arizona
Genre	Alternative rock neo-psychedelia
Length	39:57 (original) 56:10 (reissue)
Label	SST (100)[1]
Producer	Steven Escallier, Meat Puppets
Meat Puppets chronology
Out My Way (EP) (1986) Mirage (1987) Huevos (1987)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
The Village Voice	C+ link

Mirage is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band Meat Puppets.[2] It was released in April 1987 by SST Records.

The album was reissued in 1999 by Rykodisc with five additional bonus tracks, including early demos of "The Mighty Zero," "I Am a Machine" and "Liquified" as well as a cover of the Elvis Presley song "Rubberneckin'" and the previously unreleased "Grand Intro." As an added bonus, this album includes an "Enhanced CD" partition for play on home computers. Mirage offers the promotional video for "Get On Down." Drummer Derrick Bostrom has referred to the album as their "psychedelic epic".

Music

Chuck Eddy called the music of Mirage "a sideways brand of cactus-country rock", similar to the Meat Puppets' two preceding albums.[3] "Liquified" has been described as "metal-ish" and compared to the band's early work, whereas "Confusion Fog" invited comparisons to the album Meat Puppets II.[1]

Reception

Chuck Eddy wrote in a June 1987 edition of SPIN Magazine that Mirage was "catchier and more intricate" than Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun.[3]

Track listing

All songs written by Curt Kirkwood, unless otherwise noted.

Original album

1. "Mirage" – 3:40
2. "Quit It" – 2:36
3. "Confusion Fog" – 3:49
4. "The Wind and the Rain" – 2:57
5. "The Mighty Zero" (Curt Kirkwood, Cris Kirkwood) – 3:18
6. "Get on Down" – 2:55
7. "Leaves" – 2:38
8. "I Am a Machine" – 4:21[4]
9. "Beauty" – 3:02
10. "A Hundred Miles" – 3:34
11. "Love Our Children Forever" – 3:56
12. "Liquified" – 3:11[5]

CD reissue bonus tracks

13. "The Mighty Zero" (Demo Version) (Curt Kirkwood, Cris Kirkwood) - 3:40
14. "I Am a Machine" (Demo Version) - 4:05
15. "Liquified" (Demo Version) - 3:39
16. "Rubberneckin’" (Dory Jones, Bunny Warren) - 2:46
17. "Grand Intro" - 2:03

Personnel

Meat Puppets

• Curt Kirkwood - guitar, vocals, artwork, sleeve drawings
• Cris Kirkwood - bass, vocals
• Derrick Bostrom - drums, cover artwork

References

1. Sasfy, Joe (28 May 1987). "Meat Puppets--Mirage". Chicago Reader.
2. "Q & A: Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood On Arizona Punk, SST Records, His Brother Cris Being Clean, And Not Making It Into Our Band Could Be Your Life". www.villagevoice.com. 4 November 2011.
3. "SPIN". SPIN Magazine. June 1987.
4. "TrouserPress.com :: Meat Puppets". www.trouserpress.com.
5. Masley, Ed. "15 best Meat Puppets songs". azcentral.