The Gories - I Know You Fine, But How You Doin' (1990)

I Know You Fine But How You Doin' is a magnum opus of dirty brilliance. Dirty in the grunge-covered sense. Dirty in the back alley and sleepin' it off sense. As with their first LP House Rockin', the Gories employ a primitive backbeat of tom-toms, fuzzy guitars, and insomniac blues screams (distributed more democratically here by singer/guitarists Dan Kroha -- see also the Demolition Dollrods -- and Mick Collins -- see also Blacktop -- than on the Gories' debut, House Rockin'). Recorded in Memphis at Easley Recording in 1990 with legendary recluse/genius Alex Chilton at the boards, I Know You Fine is ever-so-slightly more "produced" than the debut. But the songwriting, thankfully, never leaves the gutter far behind. Better still, the Gories make you believe that it's all happened to them recently enough to be a painful enough memory to necessitate writing a blues-riff song. Muted howling, cavernous guitars, and throbbing drums are always half a step from simultaneously disappearing and blowing up in your face. The main benefit of a non-D.I.Y. production on this outing is atmospheric, after-hours gems such as "Six Cold Feet," "Early in the Morning," and "Smashed." The desperation quotient is taken up by such tunes as "Stranded," "Goin' to the River," and "Nitroglycerine." I Know You Fine is perhaps the Gories' most focused vision of urban punk blues. As an added bonus, the Crypt reissue version features more than nine extra songs culled from both singles and the original track listing of House Rockin' (perhaps Crypt didn't anticipate reissuing both records). With the added tracks, this reissued version of I Know You Fine But How You Doin' is the one Gories recording to buy if you must only buy one. Source: [AMG]

The Gories - Makin' Love



Track Listing
1. Hey Hey, We're the Gories
2. You Make It Move
3. Detroit Breakdown
4. Stranded
5. Goin' to the River
6. Early in the Morning
7. Thunderbird ESQ
8. Nitroglyeerine
9. Let Your Daddy Ride
10. Six Cold Feet
11. Queenie
12. Smashed
13. Ghost Rider
14. Chick-Inn
15. View from Here
16. Makin' Love

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Southern Culture On The Skids - Dirt Track Date (1996)

After spending the first half of the 1990s as one of America's hardest-working independent bands, Southern Culture on the Skids took the bait and signed with a major label in 1995, releasing its fifth album, Dirt Track Date, on Geffen/DGC that year. Dirt Track Date proved to be something of a disappointment for the group's hardcore fans; nearly half the album's songs had appeared on previous SCOTS releases ("Eight Piece Box" hit plastic for the third time on this set), and while producer Mark Williams was sympathetic to the band's approach, the slightly grittier, more homemade sound of For Lovers Only and Ditch Diggin' better suited the band's Dixie-fried guitar textures than Williams' tidier approach. But while Williams cleaned up the band's sound a bit, he didn't rob Rick Miller's hot-rodded guitar of its power to shake the house, and if the set list is familiar to old fans, it makes for an excellent "Greatest Hits" set, with the chicken-scratch R&B of "Soul City," the faux-exotica of "Galley Slave," and the slow-turning dance groove of "Camel Walk" offering rockin' proof that there was a lot more to this band than hillbilly jokes. For Lovers Only is probably Southern Culture on the Skids' best album, but Dirt Track Date may well be the best place for first-time listeners to investigate the band's enchantingly warped take on American roots rock. Source: [AMG]

Southern Culture On The Skids - White Trash/Greenback Fly


Track Listing
1. Voodoo Cadillac
2. Soul City
3. Greenback Fly
4. Skullbucket
5. Camel Walk
6. White Trash
7. Firefly
8. Make Mayan a Hawaiian
9. Fried Chicken and Gasoline
10. Nitty Gritty
11. Eight Piece Box
12. Galley Slave
13. Whole Lotta Things
14. Dirt Track Date

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