Green Apple Quick Step Reloaded
Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Green Apple Quick Step's Reloaded arrived just a bit after the Seattle Grunge explosion. If you know nothing else about this album, know that Dizzy and Los Vargos are solid rock tunes that you should listen to every now and then. They stand the test of time.
⭐ 5.75/10
Reloaded Track Listing
Dizzy's upbeat riff and the heavy riffage of Los Vargos keep Green Apple Quick Step's Reloaded from going underwater.
80s & 90s Swag
Sleep don't come easy is the mantra of GAQS second album Reloaded.
Some call Reloaded post-grunge. It feels more like an experimental alternative rock band who still wanted a record deal. It really takes a few trips around the block, from garage punk parts, to lazy stoner lava lamp tunes, to commercial rock hits. Reloaded probably has something for you, but maybe not.
You can say this about Green Apple Quick Step, their choral parts are generally singable.
Stone Gossard as producer
It would be hard to leave out the fact that Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam helped produce Reloaded. You gotta wonder how much influence he had on some of the songs.
A 5.75 might be generous, but again, Dizzy and Los Vargos really rock.
Reloaded notes
Hotel Wisconsin
The beginning of Hotel Wisconsin sounds like a B-Boys instrumental from Ill Communication, with all of the echo-y vocal goodness of a Jane's Addiction tune.
Not much in the way of lyrics on Hotel Wisconsin.
Ed #5
And now GAQS rolls up to imposing feedback, and does their best to fit right in with the rest of the 90s grunge scene. Ed #5 could have had a place on the Singles Soundtrack. Maybe they should have met Stone sooner!?
Nice drum and bass breakdown.
Martin keeps quite active on Ed #5.
No Favors
No Favors = hard rock, grunge, and punk all rolled up into one.
Braeden explodes into action from the get go, with Willman coming in on the call and response instead of their more traditional positions throughout the album.
I'd be shocked to be find out that WAAF Boston never played No Favors. This tune was right up their alley.
Great ending, too.
T.V. Girl
"And I do not have the strength to ... pick it up!" ... always loved how Willman sang that line.
Tyler Willman and Mari Ann Braeden vocal harmonies interplay well on T.V. Girl, the typical 4th track slowdown.
Willman conjures some Langston Royden (Spacehog) falsetto parts around ~3:15.
There is deceptive power in the slow-played T.V. Girl.
Underwater
Holy tremolo, Batman! Had this song come out a decade later, it probably could have made the Garden State soundtrack.
The left/right channel separation of guitars really helps convey the floating timelessness of Underwater.
Second chorus layers Braeden back over Willman.
Queue up the ephemeral, ambient piano notes.
Dizzy
Dizzy is/was a great tune. Good enough to get onto The Basketball Diaries soundtrack, along with other a few other Seattle acts you may have heard of, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
And, good enough to still get played. It's a fun song, no matter what year it is.
Green Apple Quick Step pretty much made a touring career on Dizzy and Los Vargos.
Alligator
Speaking of vicious creatures, Alligator exudes hints of Dinosaur Jr.
Willman adds some grit to the vocals when needed.
Alligator is the perfect track to come before the kick ass Los Vargos.
Los Vargos
Love the huge flange into.
Also, the back and forth vocals in the verse absolutely slay.
slay!
Los Vargos is far and away the best track on the entire album. GAQS does a great job of making the verse parts sound far more complicated than the single chords they are.
Martin pounds relentlessly on the drum kit, his part underrated in my opinion.
SLEEP DON'T COME EASY WHEN YOU'RE STUCK IN SUCH A SICKLY PARADISE!
I THINK THAT I COULD USE IT!
Awesome build up to the solo, even more awesome solo. This song must have raged live in concert.
Bringing the flanger back to close out Los Vargos. And the sharp cut to end the song. Can't say enough good things about this tune.
Los Vargos live at The Paramount Theater in Seattle in 2018!!!
And my, they actually sound pretty good.
Tangled
Tangled ... it's as if The Black Crowes spent a few years in Seattle before releasing Shake Your Money Maker. I don't hate it.
Nice pre-solo guitar work over the tribal beat, before dusting off the wah pedal and giving us a little something to warm us up, before dialing up the overdrive.
That whole exchange sounded like Stone suggested that the band just steal a page out of PJ bandmate Mike McCready's playbook.
I wonder if Steve Ross and Daniel Kempthorne alternated parts here or not.
Lazy
Green Apple Quick Step mixes and matches playing styles decently well.
Love the angelic background vox from Braeden on Lazy ...
"Do you love her?" "DO YOU LOVE HER?"
Space C*cksucker
Like a down-tempo Scenery and Fish (I Mother Earth), Space C*cksucker gets it's West Coast jazz groove on, in a grunge kind of way.
If you were sitting on the Sunset Strip listening to Warrant and Poison and someone told you that this song would come out on a commercially sold album just a few years later, would you believe them?
And hey, nothing like skipping vocals entirely and leaving a minute's worth of dead space on the track.
Halloween
Countless musicians have utilized the most excellent of Holidays, Halloween, as a title to a song. Lyrically, GAQS's Halloween resembles Stephen Lynch's Halloween most closely.
Which, is kind of amazing.
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Reviews of Green Apple Quick Step Albums
Alternative Rock