Dan LeRoy For the Daily Mail
Thursday
May 20, 2004
The Pistol Whippers
Hard Liquor & Left Hooks
Drunken
Donkey Records
One of Charleston's most popular and longest-lived groups, the Pistol Whippers have followed up its 1999 debut ("The Fat, The Bald & The Ugly").
The dozen tracks, which include a trio of tunes recorded live at the Empty Glass, cover what the band does best: gritty, punked-up rock-n-roll.
Constant gigging has made the band noticeably tight and that comes through from the opener "Haunted Whorehouse (on wheels)."
While the vocals are buried a bit too deep in the mix for my tastes, "Devil Chick" has Guy Parker (a.k.a. Brian Holstine) crooning a surprisingly tuneful melody line that makes you want to hear more.
If you're a fan, the songs will all be familiar, with standouts being the driving, garage-surfabilly cuts like "Before The Line" and "Roller Derby," and "Naughty Boy," which features a classic, two-beat Sex Pistols groove, suitably frenetic vocals and a catchy guitar hook.
While the tunes may be simple, this isn't particularly easy music to record. Transferring energy and attitude to a CD has always been a tall order.
So, while the quality suffers on the live cuts, Holstine's crazed monologues serve to complete the picture. Watch for lots of upcoming live dates.
Morrissey
You Are The Quarry
Sanctuary
On his first solo album after a seven-year sabbatical in Los Angeles, Morrissey intones, "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores."
At the time of his last effort, "Maludjusted," he'd become one of them, as the exquisite sense of songcraft that had helped make him an icon with The Smiths and had guided him through classic solo albums like "Your Arsenal" had vanished, leaving nothing behind but his trademark misery.
"Quarry" remains full of whines, about America ("Where the president is never black, female or gay") and religion ("I Have Forgiven Jesus," which will doubtless be interpreted as another of Mozz's coded odes to celibate homosexuality).
But with backing from longtime guitarists Boz Boorer and Alain White, these tunes soar instead of simper and, "How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel," with its refrain of "As sick as I am/I would never be you," is the quintessential Morrissey anthem, navel-gazing given its highest calling.