Puddle Of Mudd Album: “Come Clean [PA]”

1. I'm already sick of comparisons of this band to Creed. 2. Wesley Scantlin does not sound like Eddie Vedder. 3. People need to quit labeling groups "post-grunge." Grunge was not a time period - it was, and is a musical style.

...and for the review. Well, the main reason I picked up this album was because of the single "Control." I played it in my car, waiting for dissapointment after Control ended, but to my suprise, the rest of the songs actually make the album worth owning. There is a consistent hardness throughout the album even on the "lighter" "She Hates Me" which is kinda of a wacky song...more fun than wacky.

What got me even more on this album, is this is one of Fred Durst's "star search" bands that he just found and happened to give a record deal (much like Staind...Durst's other mentionable). Puddle of Mudd shows that Fred Durst has actual musical taste, which is undetectible on his own albums...

Buy this album. Wont dissapoint.

Puddle of Mudd's debut album contains 11 songs, taking straight-up, earnest rock and mixing it with acoustic textures from time to time. Fred Durst has again discovered a band whose talent far exceeds that of his own, except that POM are much more rock-oriented. Lead single "Control" is a simple, catchy hard rocker that will get your head bobbing. Vocalist Wesley Scantlin sounds like a mixture of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder. "Bring Me Down" and "Out of My Head" are reminiscient of Nirvana, while "Drift and Die" and "Blurry" slow down the tempo to create two decent power ballads. I know that there are many skeptics out there who will shun POM for being a soundalike band, but who out there today is truly original? In our current musical world of rap-metal that is quickly becoming stale, and teenage pop that comes a step closer to death every day, POM's rock-heavy debut album is a very welcome thing to all of you out there like myself who miss riff-heavy, head-bobbing hard rock.

I was really impressed when I purchased this CD. I was not exactally "digging" their first single, "Control", but I liked the video. Anyway, I took a chance, and I was suprised to find that I loved alot of the other songs. "Drift & Die" touched home with it's lyrical content. I'm what you would call an "angry hard core" chick, but sometimes I need something soothing, and this is about as soothing as it comes for me. "Out of my Head" is fun to turn up really loud in the car and sing. "Blurry", their second single is enough to make anyone cry. To sum it all up, I think it's alot different then alot of the music that's out right now, it goes back a way, I'd agree, but it's just good rock, and I find the sound of this guy's voice mixed with the good old drums, bass, and guitar, is refreshing. I'd recomend this CD to anyone. It rocks, and I think it's a great find.

To start off, there are (so far) 234 reviews of this album, and 62 of them gave this album one star. I read most of these one star reviews, and out of the 62, there were only about 20 that, to me, represented a person who actually listened to the album and didn't like it at all. I can read those reviews and, even though I don't agree with them, I can click the helpful bubble because that review helped me make my decision. Remember people, it says "was this review helpful", not "do you agree with this review". Reviews like "These guys suck cos they copy Nirvana" have no merit cos these people hear the radio songs (I'll get to that later) and make their judgement based on that. So the current 3 star rating probably isn't completely accurate. Well, I listened to the album, and here's my reaction.

On its own, the album is OK. Compared to current rock (Creed post "My Own Prison", Nickelback, etc.) this album probably stands a bit above average. There is no comparison to Nirvana or AIC; those guys pioneered this type of music; they're better artists. POM aren't great artists, but they ARE talented musicians. Big difference there. They do a good job of using the guitar in different ways throughout the entire album. Two of the aforementioned radio songs (Control and She Hates Me) are my absolute least favorite songs on the album, mainly because of the lyrics. Those lyrics don't get too much better throughout the rest of the album, but at least the band members play well off each other. The songs are well put together, though the lack of guitar solos are a bummer as well. Those two aspects (lyrics and no guitar solos) dock this album a star.. actually a star and a half if that were possible. The lead singer sounds a lot like Cobain, but that doesn't mean he's copying Cobain. I can understand how that kind of thing would turn people off to the music, but it doesn't turn me off.

To sum it up.. this album won't go down in music history, nor will POM. But don't judge the album by the radio songs. It's very possible that you won't like the entire album, and it's just as possible that you will hate it. However, at least the album isn't 50 minutes of Control or Blurry. In my opinion, it's worth at least one listen, skipping songs 1 and 6. Whether you agree with this review or not, I hope it was at least helpful.

This record features good songs from a good band. They don't reach the Nirvana level for sure, but they're alright. Buy this record if you like bands like Staind. Don't buy it if you want to get this last decade's best CD. Why can't peole listen to music without having to compare it to their favorite artists? Take this record as it is: an ok rock CD. But if you don't like rock, you're in the wrong section...