Deconstructing the Rolling Stones has been Neil Haggerty's m.o. for about 20 years now. From Pussy Galore's "cover" album of Exile on Main Street, through Royal Trux's drug hazed dirty rock, to 2003's solo album The Howling Hex (from which this new combo takes its name), while the roughness around the edges has changed, the blueprint has stayed the same. This new combo also owes a lot to the Rolling Stones as well, however unlike almost all of Haggerty's previous work, the feel of the record is not of a 60s or 70s rock band. Instead, it feels very much like the blues.
Haggery plays compact riffs, coiled so tightly there's a persistent tension to the music, like it could explode into a noisefest at any moment. But it doesn't. In songs like "Pair Back Up Mass With," the guitar keeps pushing forward with its one bar melody, repeating and repeating as Haggerty and an unnamed woman sing alternate verses. It sounds simple, and it is, but it's both infectious and maddening. Haggerty's guitar playing is nimble and uppity, creating fast paced melodies you want to return to, packaged in repetitive, A.D.D. song structures.
On "What Man? Who are You?!" Haggerty finds one chance to stretch out and explore the space with his guitar playing. The guitar part sounds very improvised, starting out with a very lyrical hook, but then loosening up, jumping around the vocals, filling in the space with consistent bursts of melody and rhythm. It adds a welcome cool down to the album before the more tightly wound song structures return.
Unlike Jack White and other current Stones- and blues-inspired rock guitarists, Haggerty has learned that, while the Stone's stage shows and image were certainly pompous, Richards made sure the music never was. All Night Fox is a great guitar record, even for those who may have eschewed Haggerty's previous work.
