Losing your head in a fast food joint

From fast food workstyle roots, Ugly Duckling whips its collective job experience up into a "Meatshake" for the alternative rap group's newest release, Taste the Secret. A chunky puree of concept and random tunes, the album is too disorienting and fails to hit the spectacular plot line of a Prince Paul album. The main story is about the fast food joint "Meatshake," provider of liquid meat, its blockhead workers and customers and the veggie shop across the street, headed by an airy yippie. The story loses its roots switching between themed and un-themed songs, while centering on overdone stereotypes. Ugly Duckling does use a "Meatshake" sketch to illustrate the emptiness of false machismo saying, "that's why rap sucks / it's too limited / potty-mouths want to make hip-hop primitive" -- a noble, though un-eloquently made point. The beats are swinging about half of the time. "Opening Act," while not part of the "Meatshake" sketch, is the best and wittiest offering, about playing the first slot at a concert. The rest of the album only shows promise, but that's something.