Big Head Todd & the Monsters

During the late '80s and early '90s, Big Head Todd & the Monsters (the Colorado-based trio of guitarist/keyboard player Todd Park Mohr, bassist Rob Squires, and drummer Brian Nevin) built their audience through constant touring, playing college towns across the country. With these tours, they built a solid fan base before they had even signed to a major label. Although they released a number of records, they weren't quite able to transfer the live appeal of their laid-back, slightly jazzy blues-based pop to disc. Nevertheless, each of their records contains many fine moments, and 1993's Sister Sweetly, which went gold and stayed in the charts over a year, showed that they were continuing to improve their songwriting as well as their playing. It was followed by their second major-label album, Strategem, in 1994; Beautiful World appeared in 1997, followed a year later by Live Monsters. Big Head Todd & the Monsters were dropped from Warner after Live Monsters and the band took four years to regroup and release Riviera in 2002. Crimes of Passion followed in 2004 on the Sanctuary label. The group released one more record on Sanctuary -- Live at the Fillmore -- before departing the label for their own Big Records, releasing All the Love You Need in 2007 and Rocksteady three years later. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi