12 tracks · 32 min
It begins with a wannabe disco dance song, as much a parody as it is a cash-in, which kind of explains where Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show were in 1975. A few years removed from "The Cover of the Rolling Stone," the bandmembers were happy to do anything that would keep them on the charts, so they did a bit of disco, a little bit of SoCal studio boogie, a little bit of soft rock for the ladies, and a little bit of stoner humor for their core fans. There are a lot of dope jokes here -- chief among them "I Got Stoned and I Missed It" -- but the levity of "Levitate," "Everybody's Makin' It Big But Me," and "Do Downs" all qualify, as does "Everybody Loves Me" -- which begins with "everybody must be on drugs in this town" -- so the whole thing feels a little bit loose-limbed, not just in its intent but in its delivery. Compared to Belly Up! this certainly has a stronger sense of funk and that's to be welcomed: the group manages to retain its nastiness while telegraphing its professionalism. That gives Bankrupt a true sense of period -- the group is looking to sell out, not buy in -- and that fits a band that, from the beginning, was happy to grasp any opportunity that came its way. Even n…
