Most of the time listening to the Grateful Dead and I'll be left with a feeling that this could've been better -- a little more focused here, a litter weirder there. Most definitely more balls and crunch. Similarly, with some heavier acts (doom-rock, guh) I wish they would show off a little more, spread it out and let the amps smoke instead of pounding my head into the ground with chug. Mostly, what's missing is that southern boogie, Led-heavy, acid drenched freakout solos, echo beyond comprehension and WOAAAAEAH's. And done well.

That's why we have Avatar by Comets on Fire. Like Blue Cathedral it's got the riled-up beery psych-out boogies, but this time around the craft's tuned, like they wrote some songs instead of drinking a fifth of JD and lettin' 'er rip in E, OK, this time A. The first two are scortchers, but then comes an effin' sweet piano slow burner courtesy of full-time-drummer, sometimes-keyboardist Utrillo Kushner. (He also plays in Colossal Yes, which hands down is a great name.) The rest of Avatar gives us those Comets that rip and roar but, most importantly, can also write a great rock n' roll record, even funky at times ("Sour Smoke"). It's one that plugs the gaps in any rock head's collection real fine and gives hope to the LP.