Bursting with Flavor – Carolyn Wonderland

Bursting With Flavor is a marked improvement over Carolyn Wonderland's clunky debut. The album's sound is punchy, crisp, and unencumbered by excess fiddling -- as it should be when the band in question lives and dies by its gritty live shows. It opens with the punchy Stones knock-off "Last Living Stranger" before moving on to the less derivative "Stuck in the Road" and "Loose Ends," two regret-fueled laments doused in the salty moisture of night sweats and desperate tears. Co-written with former Imperial Monkey Screamin' Kenny Blanchet, the songs offer the first real proof that Wonderland is coming into her own as a composer and lyricist. Ditto Wonderland's much-improved vocals, which are only rarely spoiled by an impersonation-like hollowness. ~ Hobart Rowland, All Music Guide