CALIBRATION (IS PUSHING LUCK AND KEY TOO FAR)

I haven't heard *all* of Omar's solo albums(who has the time or money?), but of the 5 or so I have heard this is one of the best. I stumbled upon this in a music store(remember those?). It was the only ORL they had. Being a big Mars Volta fan at the time I bought it. This is a frustrating album because it is neither good nor horrible. Overall it just seems like a bunch of half-finished ideas. It's a good thing Cedric is here. Sort of. He only appears on two songs which are basically the same song. The title track has Cedric with an absolutely annoying computer-generated effect on his vocals during the chorus. The rest of the song isn't bad. "...Is Pushing Luck" is basically the same song but in more of a dub fashion. It's longer, spacier and you can actually hear Cedric sing: "I came to warn you that I haven't got a clue".

The rest of the album I can describe as: trippy, rockin', electronic, Latin, freaky, mellow. There are some violin parts here which aren't too bad. Some of the guitar riffs are really good and should have been worked on more. Omar himself does most of the singing. John Frusciante sings on one song. Nothing really stands out except the two songs I mentioned. His album Old Money is the best thing I've heard him do solo. I should pick that up one of these days. Don't expect to hear anything like The Mars Volta here. 2.5 but I'm gonna round it off to 3 because this isn't a total throwaway.