Live Monsters

Quintessential Colorado band Big Head Todd and the Monsters (BHTM) has finally given its fans what they have desired for years: a full-length collection of their live hits. Recorded over the last few years at shows in some of the band's favorite towns - including Denver, Chicago, and Austin - "Live Monsters" is an outstanding retrospective of all that the three-piece band has accomplished over the last decade. Without delay, the disc starts of with a finely-tuned version of their best-known hit, 1993's sultry "Bittersweet." Listening to Todd Park Mohr's heavy voice carry the words over finely-crafted chords, accompanied by well-timed drums and subtle bass from Brian Nevin and Rob Squires, is a great study in the contrast of the illusion of being love and its reality.

Aragon Ballroom Chicago, IL 3/14/1997

A bootlegged concert from the 1997 tour supporting the Beautiful World album. A good show.

Beautiful World

Strategem was an unexpected failure, delivered exactly at the moment when Big Head Todd and the Monsters could have broken into the mainstream. With its follow-up, Beautiful World, the group regained its musical strengths. BHTM jam with an expert grace throughout the record, particularly with guests John Lee Hooker and Bernie Worrell, and producer Jerry Harrison helps keep things focused

Strategem

The sleeper success of Sister Sweetly held promise for this, second major-label release. So far, the group had sold to its fan base and to a sympathetic wider audience that responded to its neo-'70s sound. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Todd Park Mohr is a near soundalike for the late Quicksilver Messenger leader Dino Valente, and his band follows the cadences and blues-folk guitar lines of the San Francisco psychedelic bands and the Southern rock bands, especially Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Sister Sweetly

With guitars remaining firmly in the forefront, Colorado's Big Head Todd And The Monsters ease into their album Sister Sweetly with a laid-back gait. The best of this loping stuff - like "It's Alright" - makes for catchy, radio-ready fare, as does the more rollicking "Bittersweet." Todd Park Mohr's vocals drawl smoky and inviting. But it's not until track 10 ("Circle") that the warmly glowing embers do more than wind hypnotically around a song, finally erupting into full, flaming guitars and vocal pyrotechnics. Along the way, Big Head Todd and the Monsters touch on breezy funk ("Groove Thing") and acoustic roots ("Soul For Every Cowboy").

Midnight Radio

Midnight Radio is Big Head Todd and the Monsters' second indie album. The group was inspired by listening to board tapes of their live shows and decided to record their second album at concerts. Midnight Radio is not a live album as much as it is a record that captures the band in their element. This album prioritizes Todd Park Mohr's guitar work more than the bass or drums, but it is his skills around which the band -- and its songs -- is based. The stark recording sounds a bit tinny at times, but the material and performances make this album one of the best of the jam band genre.

Another Mayberry

That big head of Todd Park Mohr's is full of country and folk guitar licks hat give his music a relentlessly familiar feel, even if he does get his riffs secondhand from REM albums. Similarly, his husky voice and slightly slurred enunciation evoke generations of rock singers. So, his band's debut album, while pleasantly recognizable on first listen, also has trouble distinguishing itself. After a while, though, the subtlety of his lyrics becomes more apparent, and while the result isn't as impressive as, say, the Smiths, Mohr's proves to have an individual world view beyond the chiming guitar chords.