Last year Cooper introduced to a world he called "Brutal Planet", and it was a brutal sounding very hard-edged release that had a strong concept to it. One would expect more of the same on his follow up, but that is not what he delivered. This disc does have some moments of musical ferocity, but overall the style is closer to his '70's era music. It has a mellower angle to it - but it is still hard edged. It only seems mellow when comparing it to Brutal Planet. Lyrically the disc is not nearly as dark. Yes, the themes are dark, but there are also humorous edges all over this album. Does this mean that Dragontown is a bad album? No, far from it, it is a very strong album. Is it is as strong as Brutal Planet? Well, that one is debatable, but in this reviewer's opinion, no. The concept here is not so easily discernable as on that album, and I think that Planet really had me geared up for the darker more brutal edge. Still, this disc does not really have any weak cuts, and it is a nice leaning back towards the old classic Cooper sound.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2001 Year Book Volume 3 at  garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2001-and-2002.