Cheese - Flip Your Lid - 1996

Born and bred in the smelly heart of the Garden State - Ben Toro, Owen McCarthy, Joel Cannon and Brian Gabriel joyously plagiarize, modernize and bastardize supercharged classic rock and pop riffs nobody's thought to steal in years. Touted as "Electrifying Acid Rock" (which comes pretty damn close) by the re-energized and re-focused folks at Curb, The Cheese blast off with a swaggering slab of Aerosmith-meets-Cheap Trick radio-ready retro-rawk before paying happy, unabashed homage to a veritable Who's Who of influences ranging from Grand Funk to Urge Overkill - with stops along the way to incorporate the foursome's winking, smart-assed appreciation for Bowie, the Stones, the Beatles, Oasis, Peter Frampton, Badfinger, Nite Ranger, Queen, Jeff Beck, The Greenberry Woods, Supergrass, The Move, ELO, Pink Floyd, the Who and anything else catchy enough to stick in their ear as they were growing up. Despite a near parody-album level of lifted licks and musical moments that'll leave you asking yourself, "Now, where've I heard that before?"; The Cheese manage to pack enough energy, enthusiasm and warped inspiration into their Classic Rock 101 update to earn Flip Your Lid a slot somewhere in the list of best-of-1996 albums. (Thanks reader Jim!) -Al Muzer



Cheese - Flip Your Lid - 1996/rs
or
Cheese - Flip Your Lid - 1996/sb