It's hard to believe that I've owned this CD for almost a decade now and I can still pop it in and have it feel fresh. Dispite all the talk of how angry Maynard is/was there is also a deep sense of someone working through that anger and pain in this album. He avoids the dark rock cliche and doesn't come across as one interested in stewing in his negative feelings (as is witnessed by some of his recent interviews) but instead as someone who wants to heal. His rants, while often bitter and angry, are based in retrospection and the quest for something better. As he says in the title track, "Don't just call me a pessimist, try and read between the lines. I couldn't imagine why you wouldn't welcome any change, my friend."