Even before they began sessions for their sixth album,
Let It Go, in the year 2000, Houston progressive thrashers
Galactic Cowboys had already announced that it would be their last. But even the band's most committed followers were probably unsure about what this meant. Would the long overlooked band deliver a scorching final testament to a decade of fearless (some would say reckless) invention; or would their last "hurrah!" prove to be an anti-climatic conclusion to a frustrating career spent bouncing off the walls of the hard rock mainstream? Sadly, the evidence seems to substantiate the second option, as
Let It Go encompasses a mish-mash of leftover song ideas and half-finished concepts strewn about over its 70-plus minutes of sonic chaos. The band once again employed guitarist Wally Farkas to engineer (his producer title only applies in the loosest of definitions) the proceedings; and the fact that founding drummer Alan Doss (who had left the band after their previous release,
At the End of the Day, forcing the band to turn to King's X skinsman
Jerry Gaskill for help) couldn't even be bothered to perform, adds to the sense of "incompleteness" felt here. Occasional gems like "T.I.M.," "Hey Mr.," and the sweetly reflective "Life and Times" are pretty much buried in the static generated by the confusing smorgasbord of styles surrounding them. These range from hip-hop rhymes, to jazzy interludes, to punk rock thrash outs, to ambient instrumental space music.
Galactic Cowboys completists may find something worth listening to here, but all others are encouraged to ignore this ignominious finale to an otherwise inspiring career. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia