The Red Planet CD by Sky Saxon the Seeds is dressed in a wonderful Mars comic book cover (Mars as in the fourth stone from the sun, not Sky Saxon's colleague Mars Bonfire), and is chock-full of Saxon's arsenal of '60s sounds and riffs. The album is a coherent and finely crafted selection of 11 titles that trade in the Kinks-style guitar crunch for fuzztone and heavy organ straight out of the Castaways' Liar Liar and ? the Mysterians' entire repertoire. It's all very fun, with interesting melodies banging around a format perfected by Saxon's protégé, Jeff Conolly of Lyres, a strange karma in which later elements influence the original (think Lou Reed after David Bowie's many musical affectations). Of course, Saxon gets the last laugh and proves that the original is still the greatest, with an Oscar Wilde-ish Cynical Watcher Mr. Peep containing the repeating hook of "Save all the animals now." The songs that close out the disc have the most punch, with Violet Ray, like the earlier tune Uncertainty, going back to the Castaways in feel but exploring space-age sentiments matching the flying saucers on the CD cover -- "no guns, no bombs" and an intro tipping its cap to the Surfaris. The special effects add something extra, resulting in a pseudo reenactment of Lothar the Hand People's theremin, the inserted chants from Saxon sprinkled with religious overtones. Judge with a Bomb is a heavy dark nursery rhyme, post-mortem Jim Morrison finding alcohol in the whiskey bar of Alabama Song. Coming Home is a strong closer, an acoustic journey straight out of country singer Ron Davies' catalog. It's a commendable and solid effort from Saxon that college radio should embrace wholeheartedly. ~ Joe Viglione, Rovi

1		101 Colorized Bottles
2		Let Her Sting
3		Fools on Capital Hill
4		Uncertainty
5		Sweet Fragrant Melodies
6		Cracking Ice
7		Coo Coo
8		Cynical Watcher Mr. Peep
9		Violet Ray
10		Judge with a Bomb
11		Coming Home

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