CEMENT

CEMENT
THE MAN WITH THE ACTION HAIR (1994)
320 KBPS

The second release from Cement on the Dutch East India label, The Man with the Action Hair while musically adventurous, is not as raucous as the band's debut, nor is it generally equal to Chuck Mosley's earlier, better known work. Former Faith No More frontman Mosley does shake things up vocally as he peppers the band's quirky, vaguely funky hard rock with plenty of his trademark grunts and bellowing. Guitarist Sean Maytum, Bassist Senon Williams and drummer Doug Duffy join Mosley as he trips through Cement's all-over-the-place rock, giving mostly adequate performances. Together, the men of Cement combine elements of Mosley's prior outfits Faith No More, Bad Brains and Haircuts that Kill with sometimes strange, sometimes heavy grooves à la Ween, Suicidal Tendencies and Clutch. More live experiment than song-driven regulation-rock, The Man with the Action Hair should please listeners searching for a record that achieves a distinct heaviness without any clichéd hard rock posturing. Cement never put up the typical tough, sexy, drug-addicted front, they just seem happy to explore the immediate expressionism that the rock form offers. Angular and without much fluidity, this '94 release makes for bad background music or sing along accompaniment. The songwriting almost comes across as amateur at times, and Maytum's constant wah guitarisms are way, way to much of a (not so) good thing. Hopefully, the deeply earnest tracks like "Sleep" and "Crying" are supposed to be ironic takes on bad rock balladry, but if Mosley was indeed sincere while penning these clunkers, they certainly mark a creative low for the band. Despite the abrasiveness and some bad comedic timing, tracks like the freaky "Dancing From the Depths of the Fire" and the well riffed "Bonnie Brea" forge the cosmic Zappa-to-Zeppelin connection that makes The Man with the Action Hair an outlandish hoot.

1. The Man With the Action Hair
2. Killing an Angel
3. Pile Driver
4. Crying
5. Dancing from the Depths of the Fire
6. Life on the Sun
7. Sleep
8. Train
9. King Arthur
10. Hotel Diablo
11. Bonnie Brea
12. Magic Number
13. Power and the Magic