Listening to Bad
American “Pretty/Ugly” it remains unclear whether this Bethlehem PA area band
of miscreants is the Bad American or whether this is a retaliatory response directed
at the Bad American. That is a beautiful goal in art, when the end-user is left
to their interpretations. What is clear is that these eight songs, clocking in at
a grand total of 15 minutes, are pretty ugly. A lyric sheet is provided to help
you decipher Ray’s tirades and help you to make your decision on the Bad
American debate, but this lyric sheet is pretty useless while listening to the
record. Between Ray’s angry outbursts and the Fang-like layers of guitar work
over top the punishingly engaging songs, I found it impossible to read while
listening to “Pretty / Ugly”. Is Bad American anti-literacy? No, I think the
purpose of this record is to extract the fury from deep within the listener and
Bad American succeeds at this objective on “Pretty / Ugly”. You can go back and
read the lyrics at a later date and ponder the motivation behind including an
image of a Bad American smoking crack on the lyric sheet and enjoy the details in the
fantastic tribute to the Freeze cover artwork (see “Land of the Lost”). While the needle is on the record, I suggest
you let the fury flow. Move fast, only 326 pressed.
Give a listen to "The Jumper" and "Dirty Waters".
Take care,
Frank FOE
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