Grass Roots - 311 > Reviews > At ground level

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	These are written for the sake of the music !
Disadvantages:	Some of the tracks drag a bit .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

311 were formed in 1990 in the home-town of the band members Omaha. "311?" you say, "that's a wierd name", well the code for Indecent Exposure in Omaha is '311. One day, in a public pool, P-nut went skinny dipping with friends. One friend was arrested and taken to his parents....... naked. This (his parents were told, was a violation of code '311'). The band then took is as their name. And the rest is history...

Successful 311 now living on the road, released Grassroots in 1994 and by this time they were touring all over the US of A.

Track One - Homebrew
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A heavy track with a kik ass riff! Nice breaks in the song where it mellows out a bit, talking of past times in the sun. The lyrics are a good read also.

Track Two - Lucky
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SA leads this song. I'm not THAT big-a fan of SA to be honest, but I will say that Nick and himself do work well together. A nice riff breaks out about 1min. into the song.

Track Three - Nutsymtom
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P-nut's bass work in this song it fantastic! Try and pick it out amongst the furious rap. I also like the way it throws you off the time signature. Push it to 1min. 40sec. if you must to hear a GREAT musical interlude, some of the best work 311 have done to date.

Track Four - 8:16 A.M.
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This is my 2nd favorite track on the album. I love the intro, very jaaazzz....... nice. The bass work accompanying the intro is fantastic. This is a chill-out track, something for the beach. 'At 8:16 will you wake up with me?' Mmmmmmm...

Track Five - Omaha Stylee
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'The People!' a sample that seems to have been used ALOT in past years. This isn't a bad song. It's 311 telling us what they bring from Omaha!

Track Six - Applied Science
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Nick's type song, a good power-chorded riff with nice drumming from Chad! One to check out and attempt to rap along to.

Track Seven - Taiyed
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A FunkAy song, loving the 70's guitar from Tim. This also has a great bass-line! It's quite short, which is a shame 'cos I'd love to have heard more and more of this song.

Track Eight - Silver
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Not one of the best track's I've heard from them. This one should have been shorter and 'Taiyed' longer :-D!

Track Nine - Grassroots
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I'm liking the drum intro. again. This once again has a funkAy riff, but does tend to go on for a bit. I like the guitar solo, it has that very clean guitar effect Tim uses so often (which I like).

Track Ten - Salsa
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A good track this one. It's well-rounded and enjoyable to listen to and has a jugganaut of a riff underneath.

Track Eleven - Lose
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My fav. track on the album. Very Reggae! I love everything about it. The song is about a relationship that's going to end pretty soon. 'Though all we've been through / All the song's that I've sung for you / We both know / I'm gonna lose you'. I love the changes in the song. The Middle 8 is an enjoyable listen aswell.
About 2mins. into the song, the solo begins, it's sooooo relaxing you must listen to it!

Track Twelve - Six
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I quite like this track. The musical content is great. It's got a creepy riff running through it aswell. Freaky lol.

Track Thirteen - Offbeat Bare Ass
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Not a great track on of my least fav. on the album

Track Fourteen - 1, 2, 3
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Relax... Put the CD into the playA and go to track 14....... Reeeallllaaaaxxxxx... I love this track. It's clever and I like the mix of vocals. It's a shame when tracks like this are 3mins and tracks like 'Omaha Stylee' are 4mins, ah well.