Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Under The Influence: The Size Of Food



Do you think anyone actually stole the book titled Steal This Book just because of the title on the cover?  Do you think anyone has been inspired to buy an album because of the cover?  Well, I can answer the last one as a big, "YES!"  I mean just look at the cover of Jean-Paul Sartre Experience's 1989 album, The Size Of Food.  Crazy, right!  From a distance it looks like an eye but closer up has that thermal imaging photo of people reaching out to the center of a circle bringing the last person towards them.  Or are they ostracizing someone with their hands pushing that person away.  Or, the zombies got to the last human.  Amazing what a perspective change can do to an image.  But this photo led me to one of the albums that inspired my musical tastes.

Beyond that surface, this is a heartfelt psychedelic trip.  It's hard to describe the journey the band take us on here as some of these songs dabble in creepy, damaged, haunting, melancholy and vulnerable.  "Inside And Out" has a romantic undercurrent with a chorus of, "Baby, it's your heart that I'm after."  Creepy, I guess, if you are taking it as literal.  One gem that I catch myself singing often is "Shadows" which hits the melancholy and dark vibe.  (Maybe a psychedelic song for goths.)  Remember that boat ride during Charlie & The Chocolate Factory?  Well, that's the feel of "Get My Point."  The guitars drive several of the songs here -- songs that have inspired me to look outside the mainstream and into genres I might not otherwise sample.  Definitely an album that needs a few listens...especially if you are staying in on a rainy day.

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