siLLy puPPy This is a concept album about taking you into the world of being insane and based on BUMBLEFOOT's life of being “gifted.” It's about the plight of the bright who want to fit in with those who aren't. The story is about a musician who takes medication to dumb himself down so he can fit in with society, but the only problem is the medication makes his musical abilities impotent. At the end he has to decide what he wants and the whole point of the album is to ponder what normality is and how to deal with being different.

The only predictable attribute for any given BUMBLEFOOT album is that it won't sound like any other and the fusion-fest will take you to places you never dreamed but ultimately leaving you satisfied that you took the trip. On NORMAL it's no exception. On this release he takes a plunge into grunge once again and it sounds like perhaps The Foo Fighters may be the key inspiration for the template on this one. Don't let that put you off. Mr Foot takes you where the Foos wouldn't even consider. So consider this journey one of maybe the Foot Fighters. Musically this is probably his least progressive so far.

No need to do the track by track descriptions here. I have to say that BUMBLEFOOT starts to taper off on this release trying to keep a unified theme and all . All the songs are very well done and creative but what lacks is the knocking-your-socks-offism of the first five albums. So spoiled have I become with his music that I expect perfection and total originality 100% of the time. OK, it didn't happen here, but this is still a very good release. This is perhaps the “Wake Of The Poseidon” after many “In The Courts.” Still worth having. Still worth hearing. Just inferior but still very good. Although I get the concept and the music corresponds to it accordingly this is just not as interesting to me as all the previous releases. Still this album still smokes.