Hydroponic is one of the albums that they wrote during the first couple of years of the band when they didnt yet have a record label. I must say that the sound quality is a bit sketchy and there is room for improvement with a few of the songs. The good news is that they took advantage of that room for improvement and redid Welcome, Freak Out, NixHex, and Plain and put the new and improved versions on thier first studio album, Music. Id like to apologize to any hard core 311 fans that may be reading this review thinking that my ratings are too low, but Im comparing these songs to the songs from their studio releases, so obviously the ratings arent gonna be 4s and 5s. Now Ill write the damn review.
1. Welcome- This song doesnt compare to the version on Music, but its still freakin amazing. It starts out with a soft kind of a funk part and leats into a harer/slower paced song. The only thing I was a bit disappointed with was the fact that S.A.s intro verse isnt included in this version of the song where it is in Music. 3.5/5
2. Plain- When I heard the version of this song from this album I was shocked when it got to the chorus. Its kind of a funk/rock beat throughout the whole song except for the chorus. The chorus is really soft, maybe like some of the stuff from Dont Tread On Me, the reason I was so shocked after hearing the chorus to this is because in the Music version, the chorus is the most hard core part. Its awesome. I love it. 4/5
3. Freak Out- This song is awesome. Although I prefer the version on Music, its always fun to bust out the one on this album once in a while. It has hard core verses that lead into a more laid back chorus. 3.5/5
4. Soul Sucker- This song opens up with a simple, yet cool little bass part and leads into a bit of a rock/funk beat. This isnt my favorite song from the Omaha years but its still a good one. They didnt redo this one for Music and thats probably a good thing. There are just some songs that you have to leave out and this song was one of em. 3/5
5. Nix Hex- I love this song so much. Its a funk kind of song with a bit of a more hard chorus. The Music version is better, but this one isnt bad. To this day Ive never seen them do a song that sounds like this one. This song is very unique. 3/5
6. Today My Love- Unlike Soul Sucker, this song is one of my favorite songs from the Omaha years. Its right up there with Summer Of Love and Right Now. This song has a bit of funk to it and a softer chorus with a cool instrumental that mixes with the lyrics and the tone of the song really well. 3.5/5
Overall, this album is awesome. I dont listen to it much because all of the songs are on other albums of theirs that I own, but sometimes is good to go way back in the day and get a feel for how they were way back when they were just barely starting out. It might be hard to find this cd. They dont sell it in stores any more. Youll probably have to get it online like on ebay or something and it probably will be a burned copy from one of the original copies, thats what mine is. Although it is a bit of trouble you have to go through to try and purchase this album, its worth it if youre a die-hard 311 fan. If youre not a huge 311 fan, dont even bother because youre probably not gonna like it that much. Thanks for reading my review. Peace.
