ARTIST: Lifter Puller 
TITLE: Lifter Puller
YEAR RELEASED: 1997
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: The Mezzanine Gypoff
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: None
LINEUP: Craig Finn, Steve Barone, Dan Monick, Tommy Roach
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: After some singles, Minneapolis-based Lifter Puller releases a muted first album.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: It’s hard not to put this album in context to the singles, and later releases by Lifter Puller, much less the Hold Steady, but this album seems muted compared to their other released.
Craig Finn’s rambling talk-vocals are here, but they’re not as prominent or exuberant as they were on some singles and the way they were moving forward. The worst thing you can do is move Finn to the background, yet it seems like the band did so here.
Stories and characters and the beginnings of their arcs are here, as usual, but they’re not as well served as they could have been. This album just sounds like a generic 90’s band with a rambling lead singer.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: The band released three singles before this, with only one track making the album in its single version.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: C+: Mildy generic 90’s rock, which isn’t what you signed up for with Lifter Puller.
But Is It Any Good? 