Search - Green Apple Quick Step :: Reloaded

Much weaker than the debut, punkier and less focused.

D. Mok | Los Angeles, CA | 01/24/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Green Apple Quick Step had an unusually strong batch of songs on its debut, Wonderful Virus, injecting a Hawkwind-like love of science fiction and progressive-rock melodicism into its punk spirit. The result was one of the unsung beauties of '90s alternative rock.Losing its record deal seems to have hurt the band, because Reloaded is a far weaker record, despite the involvement of Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) as co-producer. The spritely "Dizzy", which appeared on the soundtrack to The Basketball Diaries, was a deserved radio hit, but "Los Vargos" seems very close to it melodically and only works because of the Ty Willman/Mari Ann Braeden vocal tag team. Braeden does a long-overdue lead vocal on "No Favors", but the song is basic punk nonsense: "I'm burned out on politics/Slimeball you make me sick/Deadhead get over it/I'm already gone"? This time around, there are fewer downright great rock anthems, and the band is most successful on poppier moments like "Dizzy", with its car-cruising chorus, and hidden track "Halloween", which sounds like an intimate acoustic-guitar jam with Braeden and Willman harmonizing quite beautifully.The first album was better, hands down, thanks to a catchier batch of songs and heightened energy. If by some miracle you discover this band (and it deserves to be heard), Wonderful Virus is the place to start."