Peace Queer

This live EP sounds like an act of catharsis — as Todd states at one point, \"I did not do this to change your mind about anything, I did this to ease my own mind about everything.” There’s a populist steak running through the tunes, especially when the subject is war and those who are called upon to fight it. Snider’s biting, Bo Diddley-style “Mission Accomplished (Because You Gotta Have Faith)” is smartly matched with a slow, rueful version of John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son” (featuring guest Patty Griffith). The song-poem “Is This Thing Working?” and its companion “Is This Thing On?” tackle the theme of aggression from a more oblique angle. With equal relish, Snider tears into mindless greed on the roots-rocking “Stuck On the Corner (Prelude to a Heart Attack),” expands upon this topic with the bluesy “Dividing the Estate (A Heart Attack),” and settles into a more reflective groove for the acoustic “Ponce of the Flaming Peace Queer.” Sometimes bitter and often bracing, this is 21st-Century protest music with a very sharp edge.

Near the end of this eight-song EP, Todd Snider steps up to the microphone and tells his listeners that while his work may have become more "opinionated" lately, "I did not do this to change your mind about anything; I did this to ease my own mind about everything."