Before there was the Hand and Johnny Society, Kenny Siegal and Brian Geltner were one-half of the Geffen-signed New York band Hunk, and the quartet released this sole album that vanished with nary a trace, leading to its disintegration. It's an unfortunate outcome for such a fine effort. Every element that would eventually make Johnny Society such an awesome combo was already in place -- Geltner's incredible beat-keeping, deep rumbling grooves, bold nods to everything from the Beatles to T. Rex, Siegal's outstanding hook-laden songs. A major difference is the huge-sounding production by Don Fleming. He applies a gleaming, majestic modern rock polish to the music, presumably to compete with the commercial sheen employed by bands like Soundgarden and the Stone Temple Pilots. In most respects it complements the band's big sound. Gargantuan songs like TV Moon and You'll See are psychedelic tidal waves with pomp-and-circumstance guitars from Siegal that could have come off the fretboard of Brian May, while the sticky sharp Rain or Shine is equally superb. Lie to Me and the grimy urban funk of The Rope feature the kind of White Album melodic flourishes by way of glam rock that would show up again and again in Siegal's future songwriting. And they had a fine belter in Nellie Hooper. Ultimately, though, some of the more appealing idiosyncrasies of the songs are submerged. Gardens and Hard to Say I Love You, specifically, are heavy raga-rock dirges caught beneath grungy, metallic arrangements. Still, it is an invigorating racket. Drew Santarsiero's bass playing pushes the music forward as much as Siegal's crunchy guitars, and the two together create a pummeling energy rush, a sonic bulldozer that pounds you first in the gut even before it has a chance to get to your ears. But once the songs do begin to sink in, there are a great number of glorious open-ended melodies that fight to soar upwards against the hefty rhythmic foundation. Unlike the succeeding albums from Johnny Society, though, Hunk never quite gets past the spark-inducing stage, and never quite explodes. ~ Stanton Swihart, Rovi

1		Gardens
2		TV Moon
3		You'll See
4		Hard to Say I Love You
5		Lie to Me
6		The Rope
7		Never Before
8		Stabbed
9		Modern Pie
10		Rain or Shine
11		Always