Sounds Rad (2020, Reissue)
When I wrote about the red vinyl version of the first Mr. T Experience album a few weeks ago, I said that one of the reasons I liked having it in my collection as it was a building block for a band that would become one of my all time favorites. Everybody's Entitled to their Own Opinion was an album I tracked down after I had been listening to the band for a bit. The most recent Mr. T Experience record that was available when I heard them for the first time was this EP, ...And The Women Who Love Them.
The first time I heard the Mr. T Experience was on the 1995 Slice of Lemon compilation. They did a cover of the Schoolhouse Rock song "Adjectives" and that's what made me go look for more of their music. I wonder how many people discovered them from that compilation. I'm guessing it probably wasn't many.
I am not totally positive ATWWLT was the very first Mr. T Experience album I bought. I picked up this one, Our Bodies Ourselves and Making Things With Light all around the same time. They are the three MTX records I've known the longest and in a lot of ways they will always be fighting each other for the top spot of being my favorite (Along with Love As Dead, which would come out the following year in 1996).
What I can say for sure is that I just loved this EP. "Tapin' Up My Heart" was immediately a song that jumped out at me and I went crazy for the blown out guitar fuzz lead, start/stop verse and of course the incredibly well constructed lyrics. The rest of the CD's six other tracks were equally great tackling relationship highs and lows with a sharp wit and even sharper hooks. Then there was the secret hidden song.
The 7" version of the release had "Tapin' Up My Heart" and "My Stupid Life" from the CD, but it also had an unlisted acoustic song which I now know is called "How'd The Date End?" When I used to put this song on mix tapes, I titled it myself as being called "Love Connection." In the early 2000s, Lookout put out the ...And The Women Who Love Them - Special Addition CD. When they did, they included "How'd The Date End?" but it was a different recording that had a few extra lines. I hated it. I felt like it was lacking the urgency of the version from my 7" and I didn't think the extra lyrics were worth sacrificing that energy. Oomph goes a long way with me and the original version had the Oomph I was looking for. I got a lot angrier about stupid things twenty years ago than I do now.
With this new vinyl version, the seven songs from the CD are present along with the original version of "How'd The Date End?" All eight songs in one place and even better yet all finally on vinyl. To say this record sounds great is the understatement of the year. None of these songs have ever sounded as good as they do on this record. I can't believe the fullness of everything that is just not present on my old CD version.
Also, I think I lucked out with my copy. I put in dibs for the record as soon as it was an option from Sounds Rad, but the people who bought the MTX Forever compilation had first dibs on the dibs. I didn't buy that comp because I already have those songs. I'm on board for reissues of full albums that sound better, but I didn't need a Mr. T Experience best-of that wasn't a list of the songs I actually thought were the best. So, by the time I got to place dibs, I was number seven on the overflow list. Sadly no spot ever opened up and I was relegated to the second pressing that wasn't on 180g vinyl. But let me tell you, the version they sent me is pretty damn heavy. I don't have a scale that weighs in grams, but I think that maybe they had some leftover 180g versions and I still managed to get one even though I missed out. Regardless which version I have, it sounds incredible.
I have no idea how this write up got so long. In summary, all that you really need to know is that this is pretty much a perfect slice of mid 90s pop punk, presented as an incredible sounding version and finally compiling all of the tracks from the recording in one place. You would be a fool not to have this in your collection.
The Mr. T Experience - ...And The Women Who Love Them (YouTube Music full album playlistL
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lw4lASdWJVaKOg60udq5uTkSWO4LcHg_8
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