OCTOBER 13, 1997: 

EVAN JOHNS AND THE H-BOMBS

Love Is Murder (Freedom)

There's been a lot of hard drinkin' and hard livin' between the recording of this disc (originally released in 1983 as Evan Johns and the H-Bombs), and the Evan Johns of today, but if ol' Ev lacked gravel in his voice at the time, all the energy was certainly already there. And of course there's his playing, which never strays far from barn-burning intensity. Johns never really crosses the line into punk rock, but neither does he play "mere" rockabilly, either, and this set is a good reminder of what he can do with a guitar (and why the papers in Washington have lately been trumpeting the return of their hometown boy). This is the stuff that got Jello Biafra interested in the H-Bombs, and it hasn't lost any of its explosiveness. Also featured is a previously unreleased bonus track, "One Ton Home" which, if not the best thing on the disc, is at least satisfying filler.
3.5 Stars -- Ken Lieck

DELBERT MCCLINTON

One of the Fortunate Few
(Rising Tide)

A listening party was held recently for a rather middlin' local artist who has merely glanced off the national scene for the whole of his 30-plus year career. It was embarrassing. The "product," which is how it was presented, wasn't just overproduced, sappy, and clichéd, it was terrifying in its mediocrity. This guy, who shall remain nameless, employed nearly every trite melody and tired lyric he could possibly squeeze out no matter what century it came from. The only thing that made it tolerable was the boxed wine and teeny grilled sausages. This is all a rather harsh lead-in to Delbert McClinton's first album in four years. Listening to One of the Fortunate Few, my mind kept harking back to that depressing party, and how, despite the presence of some of his closest blues and country artist friends on several of the tracks, the fact is somebody's doing McClinton an incredible favor. The Fort Worth legend is truly one of the fortunate few if he can pull in Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, and John Prine, among others, to play along. Some of the better songs here are better due to their involvement, such as, "Leap of Faith" with B.B. King, and "Too Much Stuff" with Lyle Lovett. Their support, however, isn't enough to yank this album out of the resale bin where I'm going to take it as soon as I get through writing this. Sorry, Delbert. But hasn't this roadhouse blues thing been done, and done, and done until you want to pull the plug on that weezing old amp? Bonnie Raitt really stamped the last word on the genre for me. Sometimes, you gotta just let the greats have the last word.
1.5 Stars -- Louisa C. Brinsmade

KACY CROWLEY

Anchorless (Atlantic)

Never mind that it was part of a piece that landed Jewel on their cover, if nothing else Time magazine gives good cover copy. Last summer, the newsweekly concluded that Anchorless was a "confident debut" and that Kacy Crowley was "one to watch." Now, a sticker with those quotes adorns each copy of Anchorless, an album so singularly honest and slick that even without Time's prodding it's already become Atlantic's absolute priority. And as well it should be, because Time's assessment of "confidence" is dead on -- Anchorless is indeed overflowing with poise and conviction. Most of that composure resonates in Crowley's husky voice, a malleable but sturdy tool that was perhaps prematurely aged by busking over passing Sixth Street traffic. Here, on both the smart mid-tempo material ("Anything," "Vertigo") and melodic rockers ("Singers Are Ugly," "Hand To Mouthville"), Crowley is far more Stevie Nicks than Sheryl Crow. And if her voice occasionally sounds rough, it's because the material is so lyrically demanding. Both "Scars," a smart cancer/stardom metaphor, and "Rebellious," with its stunning "I dyed my hair and I got tattooed/ And I let my body get recklessly used" line, are the type of autobioghraphical testimonials few dare to offer on a debut. And while those tunes, featuring a cast of local all-stars like Jon Dee Graham, Craig Ross, and Michael Ramos, represent Anchorless' theoretical core, the late addition of "Bottlecap" represents the album's commercial centerpiece. It's an undeniably slinky, born-for-radio pop song, perfectly calculated to become next summer's summer song. While that alone ought to excite the Atlantic brass, the consistency and depth of this album ought to excite and inspire folks closer to home, because this may be the homegrown debut that proves Austin, art, and widespread appeal may not be so mutually exclusive after all. "One to watch" indeed.
3.5 Stars -- Andy Langer

ELIZA GILKYSON

Redemption Road (Silverwave)

Eliza Gilkyson has the power to evoke sorrow, sex, depression, and hope. Her songs speak to a point in the center of your being where you can't avoid or deny the vulnerability of being human. The brilliant studio sheen laid over the tunes works in "Our Time," a painfully pretty song about the struggle of living as an emotional creature in the modern age. Unfortunately, Gilkyson has dwelt long on the line between the modern age and the new age -- and stepped over. The luster becomes blinding, and the production too embellished. Instead of enhancing the melodies or highlighting the lyrics, the production often shields the listener from them, like taking a ride in a Caprice Classic, the ride so cushy that you don't feel the road moving beneath you. This is odd, given that this is a self-produced album. "Her Melancholy Muse" is one of the more straight-up songs, a point where you feel the touch of the artist through the music. Behind the cymbal flourishes and the tremolo are some beautiful songs, it's just too bad there aren't more glimpses over that willowy wall of sound.
2.5 Stars- Christopher Hess

THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS FEATURING KIM WILSON

High Water (High Street)

Kim Wilson doesn't make bad records. Not on his own nor with the ever-evolving outfit known as the Fabulous Thunderbirds. After nearly 20 years of recording, the T-Birds have as impressive a body of recorded work as any band can boast, ranging from the raw roadhouse blues of their early Takoma/Chrysalis albums through their flirtation with success with "Tuff Enuff," to the more recent Roll of the Dice. If everyone (and Austin is particularly guilty) will get over the fact that Jimmie Vaughan left this band years ago, they'll hear that Wilson has emerged with the same charisma and showmanship as his former partner, and is imminently capable of fronting the current lineup with all the panache of his early turban-wearing days. High Water offers a dozen new tunes written by Wilson and co-producers Danny Kortchmar and Steve Jordan that showcase his songwriting proficiency with liquid grace. From the loping sensuality of the opening "Too Much of Everything" to the gospel-tinged title track to the reggae-flavored "Someone Who Cares," High Water ebbs and flows between riptide blues ("That's All I Need to Know") and swelling waves of soul ("Promises You Can't Keep"), layered with Wilson's achingly sexy harmonica playing. This isn't the gassed-up Thunderbirds of the Eighties but a seductive undertow drawing you into the warm embrace of the Nineties. And shouldn't the blues be like that too?
3.5 Stars-- Margaret Moser

LONG JOHN HUNTER

Swinging From the Rafters (Alligator)

The Titty Twister was probably nothing compared to the Lobby Bar. Robert Rodriguez's vision of whiskey-soaked barroom evil in From Dusk Till Dawn might as well have been the sin-soaked Juarez dive in which Long John Hunter swung from the rafters for 13 long years. By now that story is well-known, and even if Hunter's low-down Texas blues aren't, Chicago blues beacon Alligator Records is working hard to correct the situation. On Hunter's second release for the label, the 66-year-old guitarist and writing partner/producer Tary Owens once again demonstrate that a fresh batch of smoking, simmering blues originals are just a round of drinks away. Never mind that last year's Border Town Legend is still as hot as the Fourth of July, Hunter and Owens rounded up locals Derek O'Brien, Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff, Martin Banks, and James Polk, and holed up in an Austin studio to cook up another side of Texas roadhouse ribs -- the blues kind. Mmmmm. Hot off the grill and as fresh as that last whiskey. "I Don't Care," "Both Ends of the Road," "Trouble on the Line," "I'm Broke," all of 'em stinging, horny (great trumpet and sax work), and knowing -- the blues kind of knowing. John Sayles knew, putting together that great jukebox in Lone Star. It's time Texas film served up some Long John Hunter.
3 Stars -- Raoul Hernandez

CHRIS DUARTE

Tailspin Headwhack (Silvertone)

If Sikk is Kiss' cover project and the Bon Bons celebrate AC/DC, then what do you call Austin's Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute? Chris Duarte. Obviously, this joke's set-up was Texas Sugar Strat Magik, Duarte's solidly played, but suspiciously conservative, national debut. It was far more wank than song, and yet, for indiscriminate guitar fans, it managed to fill the Stevie Ray Void. The good news is that while the joke's punchline is still funny, its impact may be nullified by Tailspin Headwhack, a far more ambitious and consistent work. Primarily, the difference is texture, to the extent where both a no-brainer like the Meters' "People Say" and a straight blooze composition like ".32 Blues" can sport similar Axiom Funk-style drama. Better yet is Duarte's take on B.B. King's signature, "The Thrill Is Gone." Here, Duarte's mid-tempo approach wisely eschews the songs' inherent funk, concentrating instead on unwinding a smooth Santana goove. And he nails it. Not surprisingly, there are still a few too many wasted thoughts and clumsy choruses on the six Duarte-penned tunes, but most of the damage is negated by stunning solos. Duarte hasn't forgotten this is a guitar album for guitar fans, and his tone is meticulously consistent. Unlike his debut, there is nary a 30-second solo nugget you couldn't extract, put on the radio, and immediately recognize as Duarte. Maybe it's just the natural familiarity a second album brings, or maybe Duarte has finally found Chris Duarte lurking in SRV's long shadow. Either way, playing this steady and dependable is a rare and welcome display of maturity, particularly in a market saturated with teen wonders. Now take a minute to laugh again at the joke -- it ought to be the last time you see it in print.
3.5 Stars -- Andy Langer

LEANN RIMES

You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs (Curb)

It's true, the world needs LeAnn Rimes' version of "You Light Up My Life" about as much as it needs another prime-time 20/20 knockoff. Same goes for "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "The Rose," "I Believe," "God Bless America," "Amazing Grace," and the national anthem. Life would go on just fine if Rimes chose Sonic Youth's "Teen-Age Riot," Wu-Tang's "Shame on a Nigga," Sleater-Kinney's "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone," the Stones' "Stop Breakin' Down," and the Dead Kennedys' "California Über Alles" as "inspirational songs." Wal-Mart (and probably her dad) wouldn't be too happy, and KHFI would have to find something besides "How Do I Live" to play every half-hour, but the sun would still come up. To be blunt, the people who buy Rimes' albums don't care one iota about Thurston Moore, Corin Tucker, Jello Biafra, or Ol' Dirty Bastard. They care about Rimes, and all they want is to hear her sing -- so much the better if they already know the songs. And by the way, she can sing.
2.5 Stars -- Christopher Gray

RAINRAVENS

Diamond Blur (Blue Rose)

The standard knock against Americana, from a marketing standpoint anyway, has always been that it's too rock to be country and too country to be rock. Rainravens may have solved that particular commercial dilemma. Don't go rejoicing too much, though, as the solution comes at the expense of the alt-country soul. In order to bridge the gap, Rainravens have played it a few beats lazier and dropped the songwriting down a couple of rungs on the ladder, enough that Diamond Blur sounds like a Robert Earl Keen knock-off without the fury of desperate characters one step shy of wreck and ruin. Actually, Wilco, tailor-made for your parents, may be more accurate, since singer Andy Van Dyke's voice has definitely got plenty of Jeff Tweedy in it, but it's also got a smattering of Steve Forbert in there as well. And it's on "Stick Together," where Van Dyke sounds more like the latter than the former, that Rainravens hit on something of their own rather than sounding like they are trying to pull off someone else's tricks (although if you're into theft, "Empty" is a fairly moving Anodyne reject). Rainravens may have a sound that'll make Americana more palatable to more people but, well, "Empty" is a pretty apt word to describe the creativity (and emotional) tank that these guy were running on.
2 Stars -- Michael Bertin

MANUEL'S WOMEN'S FESTIVAL

Forgetting even that the proceeds of this compilation go to the Center for Battered Women, there are a number of reasons you need to own this CD. Miss Margaret Wright is one of them. Her inspired march through "In God's Land" is one of many moving moments on the Manuel's Women's Festival. Heather Bennett's "Throwing Sparks" is another, her choppy piano the bop-complement to Wright's gospel power. Acoustic folk is sprinkled generously across the board, and appropriately so. From Ana Egge's rending "Bless Me Mother" to Karen Tyler's biting and bluesy "House of Cards," these songs speak to the problems this project hopes to combat, and every selection tells a tale to be labored over. Likewise, the timeless sound of the Greater Mount Zion Baptist Choir belting out "Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land" will get you singing praises of your own. Reaching from gospel to samba to folk to jazz, this collection of Austin's best and least-known female talent offers a near-complete cultural education of what women in Austin music are up to, which you couldn't otherwise get without spending countless hours in record stores, churches, and clubs.
3.5 Stars -- Christopher Hess

FURRY THINGS

Frequent Lunacy (Trance Syndicate)

EIGHT FROZEN MODULES

The Confused Designer
(Trance Syndicate)

Somebody open lunar hatch number nine and tell Ken Gibson to get in here. In space, no one can hear you scream, so Gibson's been banging on the outside of the ship and sending these terrifying echoes and shrieks down the oval hollow decks below. Jesus, what a racket -- and it's creepy as shit. Take the lead-off song and title track from the Furry Things' latest album, Frequent Lunacy, which at 30 minutes is 13 shorter than the group's hedphones "EP" from earlier this year: Trebly beats underwritten by wind-tunnel voices, siren sounds, and occasionally Gibson's guitar. "Burn For" sounds like an oxygen fire raging in the decompression chamber, before the ambient dub of "Luxate" douses it and the space aria "Similar Place" puts in a faint call for help from ELO. Things are pretty quiet by the time the fifth and final space odyssey, "Angel Warm and Cold," floats by, and by this time Austin's former feedback kings are lost in space. Grounded perhaps only by an insistent bassline, "Warm & the Cold Electrified Angel," the lead-off pulse on Gibson's solo project, The Confused Designer, is a little more down-to-earth -- like echoes and shrieks in the sewer system. Drums `n' bass beats gush down said water tunnels, sweeping along everything in their path, like the annoying "Undeformed Allusions." Fortunately, other D&B workouts like "Heartbeat of a Dog," which lives up to its provocative title, work much better. "Sand Bubbles" is a familiar, sand-melting atomic blast first glimpsed on one of Trance Syndicate's The Kahanek Incident series, and helps distinguish Gibson's solo project as ample reason to strike out on his own. Extreme studio smarts will prompt that sort of thing. Reel him in, Hal, and tell him to stop screaming and get back in the studio.
(Lunacy) 2.5 Stars
(Confused) 3.5 Stars -- Raoul Hernandez

MERCHANTS OF VENUS

Who Knew?

Who would've ever thunk that this year's biggest musical trends would be lounge, ska, and Puff Daddy? Of course no one bothered to predict that as we were all swept up in last year's hype surrounding, uh... surrounding, uh.... See? My point exactly. The lifespan of the average musical phenomenon is slightly longer than that of a puddle in the Centex summer sun. And with Who Knew? this local septet drips another drop into the watery body of lounge. Too bad Merchants of Venus are on the backside of a wave that is, as we speak, crashing onto the shore of past tense. Let's be clear here, though, Who Knew? isn't disposable because lounge is just about passé. No, that would be to unfairly indict a band just by genre association. In fact, calling Who Knew? disposable at all is unwarranted, because it does have some skillfully constructed originals with some jump in them. Who Knew? is forgettable because it has little to offer that would compel anybody to remember it after this whole fad has run its course. For example: Who remembers that, uh, that band that was big, when uh, when whatever it was was all the rage? See, with its sexy horn arrangements and slinky guitar rhythms, Who Knew? swings, sure, but so does Muzak on occasion.
2 Stars -- Michael Bertin

MARVEL ANN

Make Believe

Throw the Flying Saucers, Orange Mothers, and Smashing Pumpkins in a blender and this six-song, 30-minute EP is what would come out. It has dreamy pop vocals, a meandering rhythm section, and songs that build in waves, usually culminating in a crunching volley of guitar noise. Sound familiar? Of course it is. Overdone? Well... normally. But here, Marvel Ann is heavy without being overbearing (something Billy Corgan has yet to learn) and doesn't get lost in the dreamworld of too much solipsistic guitar wankery either -- like so many other My Bloody Valentine disciples. But, except the more-drastic-than-usual tempo changes of "Immortal," there isn't much differentiating one song from the next. Perhaps it's to be expected when mood and texture are more important to a band than sharp hooks and verse-chorus-verse structure, but because of that, the aspect of Make Believe that lingers longest is how much vocalist Nik Snell sounds like that guy who sang the Eighties New-Wave staple "Three Strange Days." Marvel Ann certainly deserves better than that.
2.5 Stars -- Christopher Gray

SKREW

Angel Seed XXIII (MetalBlade)

It's nice to know there are constants in life. A good Merlot will always get you drunk, a black Jag XJ-6 will never slip next to a beige Saturn, and the new Skrew CD is going to make your grandmother's eyes bleed. Sledgehammer producer Bill Metoyer adds even more low-end crunch to this hellbound trainwreck of aggro noise. Sure, Skrew overlord Adam Grossman has been following this same path for years now, parlaying the early thrash aesthetics of Angkor Wat into one of MetalBlade's shriekiest acts, and though that live battering ram of sound hasn't always made it into the band's releases in the past, Angel Seed manages to capture the full brunt of Skrew minus the studio trappings. Relative newcomer Frapp's throbbing basslines are full of blunt, rank, nasty underpinnings, and Grossman's chops (and vox) are as sloppily wicked as ever. It's not exactly a step in a new direction, nor is it quite more of the same old slog. Instead, it's Skrew as they sound on a blistering Back Room Friday night, all spit and gristle and sampled mayhem.
2.5 Stars -- Marc Savlov

• The Good Life - Nashville Scene profiles Delbert McClinton this week
• The Man Nobody Knows - The back story to Leaan Rimes' success
• Austin Chronicle's Record Reviews Archives