Review, High Beam Dec 1, 1999

HALF MAN
THE COMPLETE FIELD GUIDE FOR CYNICS
(BORDER)
8/10

This is the perfect sound track for a Sunday hangover or maybe after you have smoked a few late at night, anyway I think you get the picture, its cruisy.Psychedelic blues is one term they use to describe themselves and I think that fits rather nicely, some tracks lean more toward the blues side of things while others are all things Psychedelic.I always like to hear something a little different and this is certainly different to most of the stuff I receive.

Blues Ain't Nothin is the opener and it even throws in a bit of the traditional blues harmonica while tracks such as Home For Two and Two Perverted Men In The Swamp lean toward the psychedelia side of things.When The Train Comes Back is a fairly mellow and slow blues track while Searchin For A Women is a really strong blues track.This all leads to a fairly diverse but well held together twelve track effort.

This band have been going for thirteen years which is a credit in itself and this is their first disc. It has been a long wait but for people out there looking for something a little different the wait has been worth it. We will not be sitting around to long in anticipation of their new release though as a split with Mothercake is scheduled for release later this month, in the meantime if you like the sound of what you have read here check out The Complete Field Guide For Cynics.

Jeb Taylor, High Beam On-Line Magazine