Comments for Utah Saints, Two

Maybe not as great as we might reasonably have hoped considering how long it took to make (about seven years after their debut) but an intelligent and entertaining set of tunes. The vocal tracks tend to come off best, with Chuck D's contribution to "Power To The Beats" being a particular highlight. "Sick", with its hook "night time turns people into animals" is another favourite, and the singles Love Song and Funky Music show that the Saints haven't lost their commercial touch. The witty use of spoken contributions by Michael Stipe on four short interludes helps to give the album a proper identity rather than just sounding like a random collection of tracks.