Horned Toads.

The Honeybears Add Some Horn Flair To The Best Toadies Song You've Heard In Years.

Way back in March, we excitedly passed along word that the new Toadies release would feature some assistance from the horn-blowers of Black Joe Lewis' backing band, The Honeybears.

Plenty has changed since that first post of ours, of course.

The album that was supposed to just be an EP has ballooned into a full-length release. And, well, that Honeybears-featuring track didn't actually make the album.

Well, OK. That's actually not true. It kind of did — but in its non-horn-assisted form. Let me explain: “Rattler's Revival” still kicks off the new release, which is called Play.Rock.Music. And it's still a solid track. But the alternate, horn-backed version of the same song has been relegated to bonus track status.

And, though the new Toadies disc has been receiving a surprising amount of critical praise today on the day of its release, we think it's kind of a shame that the horn version of the song didn't make the cut. Here at CTHQ, we actually prefer this alternate version. It's more of a refreshing stretch for the band than anything else on the disc — and a successful stretch at that.

Fortunately, this story ends with good news: The band has released the alternate take as a free download, and it too is making the rounds today. Right here included. Grab it below. Yeah, you can stream it first if you want. But you won't need to. The fact that we think it's the best Toadies song released in a decade should give you reason enough to go ahead with the download. So, y'know, do it.

Toadies photo by Dylan Hollingsworth.