Mr. T Experience
Alcatraz
Lookout!
The end of the summer means barbecues and another great 13 songs from MTX mastermind Dr. Frank. I had read that last year’s solo album was very pop and not at all “punk,” and MTX’s previous Revenge is Sweet and So Are You similarly was a lot more poppy than MTX’s early efforts around the start of the ’90s, although it was still a pop-punk album.
Alcatraz continues this trend, if trend it be. There are keyboards all over it – not cheesy ones, but nice old Farfisas and B-3’s and such – and even a horn section on one song. In short, this is a pop album. It sounds like Dr. Frank has gotten out his old dB’s and Chris Stamey records on a lot of these songs, with slow-down tempo changes where he switches to falsetto, then goes back to faster in his regular range, with chimy guitars and well thought-out backing vocals throughout. The trademark Dr. Frank wit and double entendre are still in full effect, especially on “I Wrote a Book About Rock and Roll” in which he skewers an unnamed rock critic.
Lookout! Records, P.O. Box 11374, Berkeley, CA 94701
