Animals With Human Intelligence Chapel Hill NC

Animals With Human Intelligence

Enuff Z'Nuff

Arista Records, 1992

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 11/09/2000

The old saying goes that the third time's the charm. In the caseof Chicago-area rockers Enuff Z'Nuff, the third time around, 1993'sAnimals With Human Intelligence, worked in reverse of theold saying. It is the first album from Chip Z'Nuff and crew whichdoesn't quite seem to know which way it wants to go on the musicalspectrum.

To be sure, Z'Nuff and crew had made sure their musical horizonswere broad from the start, and their first two albums reflectedthat synergy of styles. But this time around, things were differentfor the band - much different. First, they had parted with AtcoRecords and signed up with Arista. Second, they let drummer VicFox, relegating him to the status of "additional musician" for Animals With Human Intelligence (despite the fact he playedon the entire album).

But the biggest problem might have been with the band and therevolving door of producers. Some of the disc was produced byRichie Zito; the bulk of the chores were handled by Z'Nuff,guitarist/vocalist Donnie Vie and Phil Bonanno. Zito had theknowledge of how to keep the band sounding fresh to a ficklemusical public; Z'Nuff and crew, on the other hand, seemed to wantto go deeper into the structures of the sounds, tackling moremature expressions.

Did it work? To be frank, it really depends on when I listen tothis disc. Animals With Human Intelligence is not the kind of disc thatlends itself to instant fan gratification. There are days I findmyself impressed with most of this disc; there are days when thisdisc sounds like a tremendous disappointment. After owning thisdisc and listening to it for seven years, I've never been able tocome to a consensus on it - though the listen I gave it beforewriting this bordered on disappointment.