LIFE ON DISPLAY (EN)

This is and Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Puddle Of Mudd: Douglas John Ardito (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass); Wesley Reid Scantlin, Paul Phillips (vocals, guitar); Greg Upchurch (vocals, drums). Additional personnel: Bill McGathy Peter Katsis, Ian Montone (triangle). Partially recorded at NRG Studios and The Hook Studio, North Hollywood, California. Puddle of Mudd's sophomore album finds the band both digging deeper into its grunge tendencies and broadening its musical horizons with a collection of sometimes sinewy, sometimes uncharacteristically introspective tracks. The almost restrained "Sydney" falls into the latter category, its reflective lyric adding another dimension to the band's usually testosterone-driven songwriting. And it's by no means alone here, being immediately followed by "Time Flies," an extended exercise in surprising sensitivity. This doesn't mean POM is wimping out--far from it, with an angsty opener such as the monolithic "Away from Me." However, it perhaps signifies a shift into more elaborate, latter-day Red Hot Chili Peppers territory, especially on workouts such as the nuanced "Spin You Around" and "Change My Mind." Mostly, though, LIFE ON DISPLAY is about consolidation and musical muscle-flexing, which means that the workmanlike rhythm section of Greg Upchurch and Paul Ardito gets to show its mettle on tracks such as "Bottom" and "Freak of the World" (the latter, by the way, possessing an uber-hooky chorus). Meanwhile, singer-guitarist Wes Scantlin grabs a few more opportunities to wax splenetic about a world that just never seems to understand.