Deniz Tek and Scott Morgan - 3 Assassins
(Career)
Rob Loney & the Longshots - Drunkard in the Think Tank
(Career)
For those of you who like your rock and roll fast, loose and rowdy, former Flamin' Groovie/Phantom Mover, and current loony, Loney is right up your alley. Roy assembled The Longshots (then known as The Northwest Movers, but essentially, Seattle's Young Fresh Fellows in disguise) for some Pacific Northwest gigs back in 1992. The following year found the re-christened Longshots' highlighting the Garage Shock Festival in Bellingham, Washington, and in 1995 they released their debut album, the live, Spanish-only, Kick Out The Hammmons. Now, nearly a decade later, Roy is back with The Longshots in tow and you can thrill to the reckless "Johnny's Got A One-Track Mind," a punny tribute to ex-NY Doll, Johnny Thunders (?), the country-tinged rockabilly of John Fogarty's "You Don't Owe Me" (from his Blue Ridge Rangers project) and the twangy Ray Davies' overtones on the Kink-y "He Talks To Himself." And if Dave Edmunds and Wreckless Eric ever got together to write a song and then convinced Gary Glitter to sing it for them, it might sound something like "Nobody Does It."
"Grapey Wine" grabs you by the throat and tosses you on the dance floor, and its walking bassline will have you shaking your tail feathers into the wee hours: think Stray Cats with an extra kick in their step. Fancy a bit of mud wrestling? Nothing gets down and dirtier than "Steam" and if Roy Orbison were alive today he'd be wise to put "Five Times A Fool" on his next album, but since he's not we have the pleasure of hearing Loney play the role of the poor, broken-hearted title character.
If Brit pop-punkers The Boys and The Lurkers ever got together to assassinate The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There," the results would sound something like Loney's rousing rendition of the obscure Chartbusters raver, "She's The One." If there's a catchier rocker that's been released this year, I've yet to hear it. Boys, you've got your debut single right here! Elsewhere, the theatrical snarl of "Such A Nice Boy" revives the beloved memory of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and (to quote Woody Allen) "achieves total heaviosity" and "Hang With Me" contains the nastiest guitar solo I've heard all year. Quite simply, a dirty, rockin', catchy, toe-tappin' winner from start to finish and another fine release from Bozeman, Montana's finest little homegrown label.
This live album, which was recorded in Italy and France in 2001, opens with "Future Now," a nasty, sloppy, dirty-assed rock and roll barnstormer that sounds like Mountain let loose in the garage. The rest of this hour long set finds the gnarly bar band (Tek and Morgan on guitars, joined by Roman punk trio, The Sonic Assassins: Romano and Pippo Pasquini and third guitarist, Stefano Constantini) at the peak of their powers. You can practically smell the beer pouring out of your speakers. Occasionally, the recording quality is a little lo-fi, but there's no denying the group's enthusiasm, and a loose and raucous Heartbreakers vitality (Johnny Thunders, not Tom Petty) permeates this electrifying set, highlighted by several bloody-fingered guitar duels.
Other highlights include "Runaway Slaves" (a cover of Morgan's old Hydromatics' tune), which here becomes another Mountain-esque scorcher with a "Mississippi Queen" vibe, and the blazing Ramones-meets-Motorhead cover of Tek's "Blood From A Stone" (originally on his Outside album). A couple of Stooges covers, "I Got A Right" and "TV Eye" round out the insanity. Your own enjoyment may be tempered by how big a fan you are of Motor City madmen like Iggy and the MC 5. Morgan, of course, was a founding member of Sonic's Rendezvous Band with the latter's Fred "Sonic" Smith and the former's drummer, Scott Ashton (their only official release, the classic City Slang single is covered here to terrific effect, as are four other Rendezvous live favorites), and both Tek and Morgan have toured with Scott's brother and former Stooge guitarist, Ron Ashton. But even the general populace will enjoy this fun-fueled set enough to catching Deniz and Scott when they come to your town.
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