This the Trip

Sister 7: Patrice Pike (vocals, guitar, percussion); Wayne Sutton (vocals, guitar); Darrell Phillips (vocals, bass); Sean Phillips (drums).
Additional personnel: Dan Dyer.
Recorded at Sonalysts/Power Station New England, Waterford, Connecticut.
The quickest summary of the Sister 7 template is that they found slots on both the H.O.R.D.E. and Lilith Fair festivals. This particular Austin quartet drags on the same carton of cigarettes as the traditional funk-favored jam bands that have paid tithes to Jerry Garcia's grave over the years, but is fronted with a female lead of a bit more biker-bar iconoclasm. Not that that's a bad thing, as it goes. "Say Goodbye" teaches black-rimmed, self-described poets rhythmic vitriol that doesn't have to sound like Joan Baez and "Bottle Rocket," in its better moments, is Red Hot Chili Peppers seasoned with refreshing dollops of estrogen. The bad news is that, conceptually, Patrice Pike is little more than a drawling Cerys Matthews McGuffin surrounded by Blues Traveler, disguising a dearth of talent by just tweaking American traditions in the slightest way possible, nurturing such a reverence towards American rock aristocracy that it's almost blasphemous to exist as a new album in 1997. ~ Dean Carlson