Published on Mar 9, 1999
One of the neat things about this job is that I’m often hit by
the uncontrollable urge to listen to something that I’ve not
touched in years. In the halls of the Pierce Memorial Archives, I
have boxes upon boxes of cassette tapes that I’ve accumulated over
the years – many of which I’ve forgotten I even owned. But when I
get the wanderlust to dig through these boxes, it’s like a treasure
hunt.
On one such dig, I came across
Beg To Differ, the 1990 major-label debut of the
pseudo-thrash band Prong. (You’ll understand why I’ve labelled them
this way in a paragraph or two.) Back in 1990, it was almost like
their label was packaging the trio to be the next Metallica – down
to even using the illustratror so charmingly known as Pushead (he’s
done a lot of work for Metallica) for the cover art.
But Metallica these guys weren’t. They knew how to turn up the
burners and pound hell out of their instruments… but more often
than not, they were more interested in laying down a solid metal
groove than playing fast. And though it takes some time for
Beg To Differ to feel comfortable (geez, it took me nine
years!), it has stood the test of time, turning out to be an album
ahead of its time.
The trio – drummer/vocalist Ted Parsons, bassist/vocalist Mike
Kirkland and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Victor – did the unthinkable
when it came to thrash metal, at least for 1990: they threw in more
challenging rhythms, and dared to put the “thrash” in one
particular portion of an instrument. One example that comes to mind
is during “Steady Decline,” when Parsons bangs out an unbelievable
rhythm on the hi-hat cymbals, backed with some crunching harmonics
from Victor. (As hard as I tried, it was almost impossible to hear
Kirkland’s bass on this album; I liked the bass work much better
one album later on the track “Get A Grip On Yourself”.)
Victor doesn’t go off the deep end solo-wise on
Beg To Differ, but he also doesn’t shy away from a guitar
solo, either. However, some of the solos tended to be disappointing
to my ears – never mind the fact that I couldn’t reproduce them if
I tried. Maybe part of the reason that the importance of the solo
was downplayed is because this is a three-piece band, and such
pyrotechnics would be hard to reproduce live. When Victor did solo,
I’d venture to say that it was more of a rhythmic solo; his rhythm
guitar work is phenomenal.
The one song that did make it off this album as a single, “Lost
And Found,” is unfortunately a poor track to select. The label
would have been better off choosing a song like “For Dear Life,”
“Your Fear” or even the title track. Sometimes, Prong reminds me a
lot of Helmet, only with more of an edge. (It’s also worth noting
that Parsons’s drum sound was recorded very well; his trap work on
“Beg To Differ” constantly blows me away.)
I don’t know if this album is still around, but if you’re in the
mood for something that still goes against the grain, then
Beg To Differ is a great choice. Just give yourself plenty
of time to get used to it; it’s not the easiest listen right out of
the box.