Ulcer's fourth and most recent release, from
1997. Subjectively, it is noticably heavier
than their previous work. There is much more
guitar on this album, giving it a different
texture compared to their earlier work.
Track listing:
- Freak Intro (1:46)
- Freak (5:11)
- Forever (10:17)
- On Your Knees Intro (1:23)
- On Your Knees (6:19)
- Daddy (7:11)
- Katherine (4:17)
- Passion Of Hate (7:32)
- I Want To Touch You (8:57)
- But I Don't Want That (8:00)
- Daddy
(Radio Mix) (3:50)
- I Want To Touch You
(Radio Mix) (3:23)
- But I Don't Want That
(Radio Mix) (3:25)
Total run time: 71:31
I really like this album, for many reasons. The song
"Freak" was my fault. (I don't believe it was intended
to be descriptive!) The prolonged intro does a great
job of setting the stage for the rest of the song.
Lots of fun, since it grew out of my request for a song
with lots of tubular bells in it...
"Forever" is one of Ulcer's rare love songs. This one
is wistful and threatening by turns; the guitar
adds an almost Pink Floyd-esque ambience to the whole
mix.
Following that with the title track "On Your Knees" is
a stroke of perverted genius. It shares a superficial
laid-back atmosphere with the previous song, but it is
far edgier and almost misogynist lyrically.
"Daddy" is the latest incarnation of one of their
earliest songs; it's the only track that shows up on
all four of their releases. This mix adds in the
signature guitar work and higher production quality
of this album relative to their early releases.
"Katherine" is another old favorite, slightly reworked
but mostly added to quiet those of us who kept
asking for it on a release.
The next three tracks are all versions of songs
from earlier albums. "A Passion of Hate" gained a
disarming intro, and the chorus got teeth in the form
of some crunchy guitar. "I Want To Touch You" goes
back to their earliest performances with the
Ars Nova Guild, updated to their latest sound.
"But I Don't Want That" took a song off
their previous album, added some distressing
samples, and worked the guitar even harder than before.
The last few tracks reflect a half-hearted attempt to
give radio-friendly versions of earlier work (by making
them shorter and less profanity-ridden). I actually
played quite a bit of their earlier work on KRUX, when
I was at New Mexico State University; but Mike was
never interested in trying to become really big; he was
more into the music as catharsis than as product.