by Stephen Thomas Erlewine 　　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 have released several records, they havent been able to completely transfer the live appeal of their laid-back, slightly jazzy, blues-based pop to tape. Nevertheless, each of their records contains many fine moments, and 1993s 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 Rivera in 2002. Crimes of Passion followed in 2004 on the Sanctuary label.