Music Reviews 6/2002

Hayseed Dixie - A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love
Dualtone
     Last year when I stumbled on Hayseed Dixie's first CD,
A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC,  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  You talk about two great tastes that taste great together…how could one go wrong with bluegrass AC/DC?!?  Well for their follow up CD, HD put together a collection of songs that pay tribute to love, mountain style.  Included in this amazing collection are bluegrass renditions of Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love", Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever", Queen's "Fat Bottom Girls" and Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom", along with two originals (my favorite being "I'm Keeping Your Poop").  Once again Hayseed Dixie delivers an extremely fun CD.  These guys are kind of like the Me First & the Gimme Gimmes of bluegrass.  (db)

Man or Astro-Man? - Beyond the Black Hole
Estrus
     This is a reissue of
What Remains Inside a Black Hole.  The songs have been remastered, repackaged, and rearranged (with a few tracks that were on What Remains… not appearing on Beyond…).  This CD is classic Man or Astro-Man?, the way they were meant to be.  The songs are surfy, sci-fi, and wonderful.  Now here's to hoping that they next CD is more like this and not 2000's Spectrum of Infinite Scale.  (db)

Nekromantix - Return Of The Loving Dead
Hellcat
     Nekromantix return with their wicked brand of coffin bass psychobilly.  Thanks to the
Give 'Em the Boot III compilation, a lot of kids have been turned on to Nekromantix and psychobilly in general.  In the tradition of The Meteors, Nekromantix play full tilt, take-no-prisoners rockabilly mixed with hints of punk, metal, and lots of horror-laden lyrics.  Good stuff.  (db)

Chris Knight - A Pretty Good Guy
Dualtone
     Chris Knight reminds me of a country version of John Cougar Mellencamp.  Thoughtful lyrics mixed with a southern country-rock sound that is refreshing, while not sounding like an attempt at a pop cross over.  "Highway Junkie" is the stand out track on this CD, a song about a heartbroken trucker burning up the highways.  (db)

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