Mayonnaise in Bloomington, MN

In 2017, roughnecked road rockers
Deer Tick
broke a four-year silence with the simultaneous release of two self-titled albums, one of acoustic alt-country and one of sloppy, full-energy rockers. Those paying attention might have noted the cover art for both was a variation of the same oil painting depicting bottles of ketchup and mustard, slyly signifying the distinctive flavors of each set of songs. It's not a stretch, then, that a companion album made up of outtakes, alternate versions and other miscellanea recorded at or inspired by those sessions would be titled
Mayonnaise
. Where the two self-titled volumes nicely illustrated both songwriter
John McCauley
's range and the band's chops, this smattering of extras is a looser and less serious expansion. Along with alternate versions of tunes from the acoustic album ("End of the World," "Limp Right Back"), the collection is padded with outtakes, covers of favorite live standards by
the Pogues
,
George Harrison
, and others, and a couple of brand-new songs. Where the two self-titled albums took focused turns showing off the band's introverted side and flexing their bar band chops,
is more all varied, moving from
Band
-modeled roots rock like "Old Lady" to perky pop tune "Hey! Yeah!" to a drawn-out cover
the Velvet Underground
's "Pale Blue Eyes". ~ Fred Thomas