L.S.U.

Mike Knott's latest offering picks up where his last, Rocket and a Bomb, left off, with an acoustic number based in reality: potty training, divorce, and a double. Steve Hindalong is somewhere behind Knott slapping on something metallic and thin, like on of the guys huddled around a fire in an oil can on the sidewalk about the time your kid sister should be walking home for the night.

And the rest of the record falls somewhere in between the two styles.

More significantly, since Knott is necessarily prolific these days, he runs the risk of being ignored by those who have L.S.U. records already. And the newest release bears comparison because of this.

Those familiar with 1992's The Grape Prophet will find similar material in "Bad Disease," and those who have picked up the new Rocket and a Bomb will hear strains of the acoustic/strings/etc. on "Christ Saves, "Blame," and "Grace."

But perhaps most exciting is the remainder of the record, which was recorded as immaculately as the aforementioned tracks but mirrors exactly what Knott and his entourage sound like live these days. Tracks like the instrumental "Shaker" could have been easily lifted from an "I've got this!" show and will likely be performed in many of them.

So you've got Shaded Pain, This is the Healing, ... Siren, and some other L.S.U. CDs. Why would you want this? Because, with the possible exception of Frontline (now Metro One's) Shaded Pain release, nothing has ever sounded like it ought. The songs were there, and Blonde Vinyl poured the money it had into production, but nothing sounded like this. 1994 has seen Knott's work finally sounding current in production. While few things are as sonically perfect as, say, Ten, this certainly in the field as is Word's version.

Should you sell your old ones and get these? Perhaps, since the old ones have gone way up in value, but you might actually want to consider just shelling out new bucks for them, and letting your collection look like you really dig this guy.

You do, don't you?

-David Vanderpoel Originally appeared in VoG Magazine, December 1994

This is probably the most popular L.S.U. album to date. It was recorded around the same time as Aunt Bettys self titled album, but the sounds are completely diffrent. Here is a review----

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