Dada (4) – Puzzle

It is official, there is going to be a reissue for Record Store Day 2025 on April 12, 2025. It is being pressed as a double LP on Strawberry and Black Swirl vinyl. There is also going to be a side of bonus tracks that were cleared after the submission deadline. Did I also mention that it is going to be a gatefold as well.

Reissues on vinyl HAVE been spoken about between myself and the band. Getting through the web of red tape and hoops to make it happen is the issue at hand. Just because the band and the public want it, doesn't mean the rights owners do also. It IS on my #1 most wanted to have happen so we'll see.

One of the best albums of the 90's period. It sold close to 350,000 copies in the USA back in the day, so it is bonkers not to reissue it on vinyl!!

---DADA, if you are listening, please re-issue your entire catalog on vinyl. It's time.

How the album “Puzzle” released by the group Dada in 1992, which went almost unnoticed at the time, should still remain one of the lost musical diamonds is beyond me. Yet equally disturbing is the fact that Dada released yet another in their series in 2006 which virtually no one has taken notice of, even though they have never left the touring circuit, and continue to put out fine material ... I would suggest that much had to do with the collapse of their record labels, and the changing times from which they came out of ... namely, the rise of the loathed [by me] genre known as “The Singer Songwriter.”

“Puzzle” will take hold of you on several levels ... you can be swept away by the sheer quality of the music, or blown away by the lyrics, or decimated when you combine both of those. “Puzzle” has an edge to it, taking a satiric look at life in America, like understanding the inside joke, but don’t let that influence you negatively, because other amazing artists like Stan Ridgway have done the same thing, with spectacular results. The songs have their hooks, some catchy phrases and turns of the unexpected ... all of the songs are all crafted by the hands of people who had a clear vision of what it was they were about.

Sometimes, I too seem to forget about this release, and whenever I’m reminded of it, it won’t take but a moment before it’s on my changer.

You’ll find something carefree and easy here, a journey into the unknown, great guitars, smooth vocals, and the unparalleled ability to last and be ed.

**Now this has to be the most interesting thing to do while on hiates ... Phil Leavitt, took to performing with The Blue Man Group, and you know, looking back at this release, “Puzzle,” I should have expected that.

Review by Jenell Kesler