AMG Review of D:A:D Draws a Circle

Eduardo Rivadavia
All Music Guide

Disneyland After Dark's second full-length, 1987's D:A:D Draws a Circle, is where they begin to find their hard rock voice, albeit tentatively, as there's still widespread experimenting with countless songwriting styles throughout -- not always with great results. Manic opener "Isn't That Wild" sets a surprisingly frenzied pace (revisited later on the rebellious stomp of "I Won't Cut My Hair," and the hilariously blasphemous "God's Favourite"), but soon gives way to an appropriately low-key cover of America's "Horse With no Name." D:A:D's amusing obsession with spaghetti westerns persists, if less pervasively so, in truly weird tracks like the psychedelic country music of the inscrutable "Black Crickets," the pedal steel-infused gospel shout "There's a Ship," and the ballad-y "10 Knots." The raucous guitar picking of "Ride My Train" resurrects the group's rockabilly soul, only to give way to the schmaltzy balladry of "I'd Rather Live Than Die" as the album wraps up. [Two bonus tracks, "Up, Up Over the Mountain Top," and "Sad Sad X-mas," were added to this album's C.D. reissues a few years later.]