Their best. Whole album is amazing. I've bought and lost the CD 3 times. Got it safe in the cloud now. One of my top 10.

I asked Watt around the time this album was released if he wasn't worried about being ruined by his new association with Columbia. He just smiled, and said no. He continued to tour with the band in the econoline, setting up before and tearing down after the shows, all the while stopping to talk to and inspire all of us who approached him. The album, unlike most major label recordings, was produced entirely without financial "assistance" from the label and all support from the label for touring was refused. (For those who don't know, when a band is given a huge sum of money to record an album, it is a debt owed to the label, and must be paid off before any money from record sales go to the artist-at least that's how it worked then. Ditto for touring support) Sadly, the band disbanded after this, and Watt continued on into a solo career with mixed results. But this record, perhaps more than any other fIREHOSE album, exemplifies the staunchly independent spirit that lives on in Watt to this day.

you NEED this album.

Don't pick and choose tracks, just buy the whole album. Watt's bass lines rock on track after track and ed wrote some of his best stuff. I'd love to see these guys together one more time on stage.

While Watt and Ed and George toured before this album, I thought of how hard it would be to cram the energy and thrash of their show into a thin little CD. Nothing is going to come close to a live fIREHOSE show for me, but with If'n and Ragin', Flyin' the Flannel is as close as you get. Watt is full and puchy, George's drumming is minimalist genius and if you were ever able to let d. RIP, Ed does some amazing guitar work in his own right. Go and get all of the 'HOSE CDs and you'll see. You won't be able to leave them alone as they always seem to float to the top of my CD pile and my iPod lists. Flyin' wriggles and slashes and smashes into your DNA and has been doing so for me, since they hit the Indie scene. No problems converting to the big label BS that oft kills lesser bands. This record is the bg FU to naysayers who thought the move to Columbia would bring their demise.

They don't make bands like this anymore. Firehose could rock without falling into all the stupid rock trappings.

a classic, just a plain old good record. Buy it to lighten up and take a load off.

This is a classic!