Zoom

Disagree respectfully with review that said not as good as 1st album (get both!). I consider this their best album and one of the greatest blues-rock records you've never heard of. But unless you saw them live you may not get the humor. Kick-a** comedy-blues-rock from a band that could really deliver the goods in a small club. Great to see it in the store.

I too grew up on the root as did the former writer, however , my mother did not take me to the show,(way Cool) But I was not old enought to get into the nightclub nor did I have the money, LOL, but the owner used to let me watch all the music from a passthrough where they took the cover charge, There In this small virginia nightclub I was able to see tons of fantastic acts, Rootboy, Nighthawks,NRBQ, just to name a few. I agree, if you saw Root live, you were a fan. I compare his genius to that of Frank Zappa. The costumes he wore were outrageous, I once saw him dressed as a pack of zig-zags, complete with tissues that he would pull out like they were papers as he was performing. I recommend buying any of these songs that hold a memory of a show, Its history. Christmas at Kmart and Steal it at the 7-11 bring back a flood of crazyness.

The Root was one of the best live acts in the history of Rock, Anyone with a brain who saw one of his shows walked away a lifelong fan. His band was fantastic, his songs were hilarious - especially in concert. Glad to see this, along with his first album finally available again. Oh and he and his bass player (who was also on the football team at Yale) was in the same frat at Yale as George W Bush. Needless to say he didn't think too much of the future president.

When I was in fourth grade in 1979 my mother took me to my first two concerts: Elvis Costello and the Attractions at GWU and Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band at the Childe Harold in DC. Elvis may have burned longer but the Root burned brighter and the first two albums stand up pretty well against EC on humor, cleverness and musical virtuosity of the backing band. Plus, he did the Gator on the little round table we were sitting at. The songs are dirty, hysterical and ironic and the backing musicians are stellar, many going on to have successful solo jazz and blues careers. The quality of the music leaves no doubt why Root was taken to Warner Brothers by one of the Steely Dan guys and anyone who saw the genuinely stumbling high performances has no doubt why they got dropped from the label and started the downhill trek to indie label obscurity (and ultimately his sad passing.) However, Zoom and the self titled debut album (which has been released on CD and someone needs to get on itunes soon) stand up as some of the greatest seventies/post-Nixon/stoner/coked-out/smart/punk-in-the-truest-not-fashionista-sense music ever made. And it smokes. Best of all, these were the nicest people on earth. My fully autographed Root album with tons of nice notes that I garnered at their fairwell concert as they left for their british tour attests to a kind of family friendly weirdness that I don’t think is around much anymore (unfortunately, my mother has that album and I’m not likely to see it again- what, you didn’t think a parental relationship with a mom who would actually take her 9 year old to a bar to see Root Boy was going to end well, did you?). Although I think the album was better served ending with the blazing and since covered Express Train than the long disco jam Live For Tonight that was not on the original album. But I'm buying it nonetheless to get the new song and to be able to stop hearing the vinyl pops on Dozin' & Droolin'. Kind of agree with the earlier comment that the first album was better but gave this one five stars because the first one should have a six star category. Buy it, get lit, and enjoy.

I grew up on Root, in the same vain as Roky Erickson - Root defies to be classifed. I just wish they could release Dog Secrets...maybe some day when quarter movies aren't on my mind.

like Hunter S. Thompson, Root is fallen hero. beholdeth ye the glory of mescaline, peyote and pernod. while the disco lights swirl above, down below there's hell to pay. way down low, where the mud is thick. decaying carbon elements speak of generations past, while a jolt of blow raises all hands to attention.

"Dare to be fat, fat is where it's at". Not as good as release with "Boogie Till You Puke" and "Mood Ring", but still a good time capsule, with "World War 3" my favorite song on this one.