Third and final in my unplanned trilogy of Pussy Galore-related reviews is The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's 'Sweet N Sour', released 24th June 2002.
The track was the second single from 2002's Plastic Fang, an album that found the raucous rock 'n' roll revivalist sound of JSBX sounding increasingly hollow and cliched. By this point in the band's career they sounded like they were flogging a dead horse. The act was always more about style and attitude over substance, but here the songs, and Spencer's vocals particularly, sound like a pastiche, sans the irony, and do little to set themselves aside from their already vast back catalogue of samey material. For me, JSBX begins and ends with 'Blues X Man' and once you've heard and loved that all that's left is album upon album of songs that are similar but not quite as good.
All that said, 'Sweet N Sour' isn't a bad track. If I'd never had heard a rock 'n' roll song before I'd have said this was brilliant, but as it is, this comes across at best as a novelty or at worst a tired retread. The video is HOT though, produced by Swedish collective StyleWar:
This type of music usually lends itself better to the live experience (how good can shaking, sweaty RnR be in the confines of your home?) and I remember seeing a smoking performance on Later with Jools Holland, memorable not only for Jools' piano accompaniment, but for Spencer stomping all over said piano. You just can't capture this stuff on disc:
The artwork ties in to the concept of the Plastic Fang album, with all design by Chip Kidd. Kidd is a pretty big name in graphic and sleeve design (particularly books) and has used his success in this field to manoeuvre himself into music and writing. There's nothing that special about the imagery on show here; just some pretty cool retro graphics inspired by 60s comic-books and B-movies that match the Blues Explosion's punkabilly/rock 'n' roll throwback aesthetic well.
The B-side is a live version of 'Shakin' Rock 'n' Roll Tonight' (the album version later becoming the third and final single from Plastic Fang) that was recorded during a session for Dutch radio station VPRO on 9th February 2002. From what I've said above you can probably already infer what I think about this one. Let's just say it's better than the album version and call it a day!
The track was the second single from 2002's Plastic Fang, an album that found the raucous rock 'n' roll revivalist sound of JSBX sounding increasingly hollow and cliched. By this point in the band's career they sounded like they were flogging a dead horse. The act was always more about style and attitude over substance, but here the songs, and Spencer's vocals particularly, sound like a pastiche, sans the irony, and do little to set themselves aside from their already vast back catalogue of samey material. For me, JSBX begins and ends with 'Blues X Man' and once you've heard and loved that all that's left is album upon album of songs that are similar but not quite as good.
All that said, 'Sweet N Sour' isn't a bad track. If I'd never had heard a rock 'n' roll song before I'd have said this was brilliant, but as it is, this comes across at best as a novelty or at worst a tired retread. The video is HOT though, produced by Swedish collective StyleWar:
This type of music usually lends itself better to the live experience (how good can shaking, sweaty RnR be in the confines of your home?) and I remember seeing a smoking performance on Later with Jools Holland, memorable not only for Jools' piano accompaniment, but for Spencer stomping all over said piano. You just can't capture this stuff on disc:
The artwork ties in to the concept of the Plastic Fang album, with all design by Chip Kidd. Kidd is a pretty big name in graphic and sleeve design (particularly books) and has used his success in this field to manoeuvre himself into music and writing. There's nothing that special about the imagery on show here; just some pretty cool retro graphics inspired by 60s comic-books and B-movies that match the Blues Explosion's punkabilly/rock 'n' roll throwback aesthetic well.
The B-side is a live version of 'Shakin' Rock 'n' Roll Tonight' (the album version later becoming the third and final single from Plastic Fang) that was recorded during a session for Dutch radio station VPRO on 9th February 2002. From what I've said above you can probably already infer what I think about this one. Let's just say it's better than the album version and call it a day!
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