deloused hadn't really escaped from the pop underpinnings of at the drive-in, yet. it's leaning. there are high points, no doubt. but, the record suffers from this tendency to retreat into these awful power pop choruses. now, i know fans of the disc will uphold it for exactly that reason, but those people have to realize how much of an obstacle it is for people tuning in from a more abstract wavelength. worse, a lot of the epics really fall apart somewhere along the way. it's sloppy writing. great drumming, mind you, but sloppy writing.
after this disc, they got eaten alive by their own pomposity. again, there are moments - fewer and further between as time progresses. but, that punk attack is just out the window. there's no contradiction in criticizing deloused for being too sappy/catchy and criticizing the stuff after amputechture for not displaying any characteristics of punk rock whatsoever.
it's this disc, and this disc only, where the ideas swirled together and fused into a proper progressive punk combination that manages to capture the immediacy of punk and the abstraction of prog at the same time. it's a rare combination in any era, but the few examples that exist are head and shoulders the best records that the rock era produced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quK6092mesw
