In short, Ed and Rod is the 'Gurge's most consistent work. What this means is it doesn't contain the savage mood swings that marked Tu-Plang or Unit. (I didn't even bother getting ... Art, so that's a gap in my collection which I don't feel particularly compelled to fill, but ne'mindat.) I imagine that some people will argue that that's a bad thing, but what the result is I can listen to the first eight tracks through without hitting Mister FFWD (on the cutely titled "Spooky Interlude", which is just that, no more), a first for a Regurgitator album for me, and thus this is a good thing.

In the lead up to the release, I was torn by the apparent weakness of "Fat Cop", the lead single, but heartened by positive live reports from various people, especially with regards to the new rap stuff. And they're not wrong, the rap songs on this are great! Particularly the opener "C'Mon", with Quan's elocution, the intricate beatwork and and their ring-in turntablist, namechecked thus "can you hear the drums Hernandes?". Heh. The rock pop stuff is pretty neat too, I've also upgraded my assessment of "Fat Cop", "Superstraight" is "Happiness" redux, but perhaps not as cynical, "Hullabaloo" might seem like very topical Generation Loglo kvetching except you know it's a rewrite of "G7 Dick Electroboogie" with more electroboogie. In short, they've learned restraint with regards to the cynicism without dropping the culture jamming, making the points that need to be made, and perhaps, more importantly, getting the energy back that infected the best parts of Unit. Letting Martin Lee go may or may not have been a factor in this.

Whilst the second part of the album peters off a bit after the peak of the cheerfully pessimistic "Fuck The Goddamn World" and the goofy "Corpse Xplosion", well, no-one's complaining at this stage. Whilst some have already written them off, I won't. Ed And Rod is good stuff. I hope they tour it around here.