"The Hand that Feeds," "Sight For Sore Eyes" & "Milkcow Blues"

As we head through the back half of Draw the Line, we're seeing consistency... not greatness, but at least a uniformity to the tracks. "The Hand that Feeds" is pretty much exactly the type of album track that bolsters this album's reputation is interesting, weird, and yet solid if not great. It's hard and got a bit of swagger (based on a Phantom of the Opera type scale riff) it's menacing and messy and weirdly abrasive.

No this album did not have the level of craft its predecessors did, but it doesn't lack for character. Once you start meeting it halfway you start to appreciate...



And the test for that is "Sight for Sore Eyes." When you can learn to love a dirty-ass funk jam like this, you really appreciate this album for the spectacle it is and what it has to offer. If you didn't know the history of the band - what tensions and tempers were tearing them apart - you'd think this wasn't a case of "running out of gas" as it was just a change of direction. They certainly pursue this sound very thoroughly on this album, and it suits them. It does! Imagine that. It's just that they weren't producing what was expected or desired by the critics. The fans were pretty happy with this whole affair, if I've read right.



And why wouldn't they be? Hell. This cover of an old blues standard (by way of the Kinks) really closes this album out on a strong note. It may not exactly be "Train Kept A Rollin" but they sure cut this one up. It's dirty without being gross (something the band was losing its feel for) and has a hell of a groove. It shows, like "Kings and Queens" in a different way, that when the band could get its shit together and focus, they still had something good.

And as bad as it gets in the next little while - that's something that never quite goes away.