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Oh
my GAWD! I love everything about this record. EVERYTHING!
From the banjo to the sampled drums to the steel guitar, whether
fake or real. Bad Livers have done it again! This record is
Funny. It’s Honest. It’s Real. It’s GOOD. From the first line
of this record, I had no choice but to listen, enthralled.
"Fist
Magnet" borders on industrial country music, laden with
heavy banjo licks and techno trash beats. Distorted call-and-response
vocals discuss the virtues of rodeo clowns and playing banjo
by the railroad tracks. "I’m Losing" is to country
music what the older Flaming Lips’ songs were to rock music…
Heavy, fast, and with some fine steel playing thrown right
in. " Little Bitty Town" is laced with folky, back-home
acoustic guitars and vocal accents. "I live in a little
bitty town, and all we do is just ride around." That’s
what the song does, just moseys right along. "Looky Here"
is more a collage of noises, than a song, and probably the
least desirable track on the album. But all that is redeemed
on "Love Songs Suck", where the ‘Livers take their
country charm to 10. Fine Steel playing coupled with tongue
in cheek countrified lyrics, and a bad ass bass line, contribute
to the finesse with which this song is delivered. "Legend
Of Sawdust Boogers" begins with a down home commercial
for a bar-b-q joint buried under a dragging drumbeat, and
moves into a nice swinging gospel ballad. "When the music
starts to play, carryin’ all the folks away, from the burden
this life will heap upon. But you have without a doubt, left
me here and hanging out, when the skies are gray, let the
sawdust boogers play." This tune is probably my favorite
of the record, and contains a wonderful dueling guitar and
steel solo. Of course, "Death Trip" may be my real
favorite, as it rides along on waves of bluegrass banjo, and
talks of lessons learned through hard living. The album takes
a turn to the heavier side with "One More Night in a
Hotel", once more very reminiscent of the Flaming Lips’
early years. Woody Guthrie seemingly returns to life in the
hard-edged ballad "New York City", a full-on lament
for the love of a good woman (or perhaps a bad one). "Man
vs. Fate" wraps up the album nicely, with the darkly
told tale of a man named Joe who was tested… and the listener
is left with the facts to decide whether Joe won the fight,
or not.
Like
the mighty Sixteen Horsepower, but more fun, and less devil-ish,
Bad Livers have created an album full of country mayhem for
the masses to enjoy. Two men and a sampler have turned out
music before, but never like this. Lock up the kids, and the
grandparents. And put on your dancing-no-dancing shoes… Not
for the faint of heart, "Blood & Mood" is 10
tracks of wondrous fun, and is available now. My suggestion…
Buy it!
--David
"polecat" DeVoe
- Fist
Magnet
- I’m
Losing
- Little
Bitty Town
- Looky
Here
- Love
Songs suck
- The
Legend Of Sawdust Boogers
- Death
Trip
- One
More Night In A Hotel
- New
York City
- Man
vs. Fate – 2 Out Of 3 Falls, 10 Round Limit
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Bad
Livers 
