Sun City Girls - The Handsome Stranger
(Abduction)
Quite simply, the Sun City Girls play by their own rules. Period. Extremely infrequent live shows. A constant flood of releases. The willingness to constantly vary their sound. Of all of the quirks, this last one is what makes the band so powerful. A large part of the joy in picking up a new SCG record is the fact that you never honestly know what you have purchased until you actually play it. The band represents such a collection of different sounds and stylings that each and every album can take on an entirely different approach and tone. Whether you are looking for the gamelan influenced 300,0002 Crossdressers From Beyond the Rig Veda, the anti-American sentiments of Horse Cock Phepner, the eastern masterpiece of Torch of the Mystics or the free jazz of A Bullet Through the Last Temple, the Girls are happy to bring these themes and just about any and everything else to the table. The true fan knows that there should never be an honest surprise about the sound of any of the band’s albums. The SCGs have taken this reputation, and, under the influence of their prolific nature, started the Carnival Folklore Resurrection series of self-released CDs in 2000 to provide them with an open outlet to allow for a constant and torrential flood of material displaying their full artistic spectrum. The latest disc in this series continues in the established trend of excellence.
The Handsome Stranger is the 8th installment in the CFR series. On its face it most closely resembles the band’s 1996’s release Dante’s Disneyland Inferno. Both recordings feature a sound mixture of lounge-style song construction and long spoken-word meanderings. Whereas Dante’s sometimes strikes me as being a bit too long, this latest disc presents this aspect of the band’s sound at an excellent and palatable length.
The album starts off with a bang in the form of the truly freaked-out “Shadowland”. Paranoia is a massive understatement here as Bishop’s lounge-singer on acid is happy to release statements proclaiming that this land is a place where “right handed people are all left handed because now they’re shadows” and “upside-down staircases at 45 degree angles that defy the law of gravity”. Bishop’s vocals eventually vanish into a cacophony of freakish music, backing vocals and mild self-parody. While this track does not possess an amazingly high degree of correlation to any of the other songs on the album, that marked difference serves as the perfect manner in which to set forth The Handsome Stranger’s off-kilter nature.
With the album’s tone established, the listener is then plunged headfirst to a long night spent at a sleazy local pub in Hell. The experience is far less nightmarish than it could be, in large part due to the SCGs perfect accompaniment for the setting. Upon listening to this album, there can be no doubt that most sleazy lounge acts in Hell sound exactly like the songs present here. Imagery comes quickly and vividly while listening- it is easy to envision the band playing these tunes while wearing blood and bourbon stained white tuxedo shirts, taking smoking breaks frequently and with gusto. The piano, brushed drums, and occasional horns and de-tuned guitars produce the exact sounds that would provide the background for any demon or imp’s end-of-the-day drinks. “Prisoner of Mold” introduces this theme through a playful piano dirge. Horn squeals, brushed drums and a smattering of gutteral human sounds fit right in and perfectly round the song’s sound out.
The next track, “Isle of Spree / Foley’s Halloween”, is a descriptive account of the first meeting of a dead John F. Kennedy and John Wilkes Booth over drinks in the underworld. The track starts with the slow sounds of water lapping on the side of a boat with occasional rowing sound, the sounds of JFK rowing on in on the River Styx. JFK is a rather boastful individual, proud to recount his achievements. Our setting is the River Sytx Saloon and it doesn’t take long for Booth, the handsome stranger himself, to offer to buy Kennedy a drink. The rest of the track plays out as insanely as you would want for it to.
“Leprosey of Melbourne” recreates via piano the sounds that would accompany a chase in silent movies. All the while Bishop is more than happy to just let loose with conversations about the Sizzler Steakhouse, going head to head with jazzed-out drums and acid-tinged horns. “The Calcium Kiss” is a slow piano dirge that makes the listener want to join hands with those near them and sway back and forth while singing along. If you’re not going to join in the revelry, hold your lighter high and sway back and forth in your own private celebration. “Grease That Lightnin’ Bolt” continues the jazz-from-hell theme. “Carcass Investigation” is a truly evil investigation of cacophony and cackling. Go ahead and prepare this tune to play on repeat for next Halloween and the trick-or-treaters will never come back. The nightmares will be too intense and you’ll feel like you did the right thing.
The album closes out with “The Handsome Stranger / Drifting on Shadows” and it makes for a rather fitting conclusion. A haunting piano attack not-that dissimilar to the Jaws theme advances forward, creating an excellent vision of paranoia. What the listener is treated to in a gutteral growl is the JFK/John Wilkes Booth encounter from earlier in the album retold from Booth’s point-of-view.
The Handsome Stranger is one of the better discs in the Carnival Folklore Resurrection series. It cannot take the title of the “best disc in the series”—
that honor still belongs to Volume 7, The Libyan Dream. That said, the disc is pretty essential for any grizzled Sun City Girls fan. Go ahead and pick it up if you haven’t done so already. Kick back and enjoy The Handsome Stranger with a nice, stiff beverage in your hand. It leads to a proper and fitting listening experience.
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