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Various Artists Sunday Nights: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough Fat Possum __________________________________________________ |
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The pair of new Stooges tracks is the CD’s obvious marquee attraction, and Iggy doesn’t disappoint by delivering two earth-shaking versions of Kimbrough’s “You Better Run” (with its lyrics about aborted rape and bargaining for sex, it’s nice to see that the Stooges haven’t outgrown their taste for juvy-hall chuckles). But there’s a lot more meat than gristle on this bone – Spiritualized turns a squeezebox into a psychedelic flamethrower on “Sad Days Lonely Nights,” and Kimbrough disciple Dan Auerbach pays elegant tribute on the mournful “My Mind Is Ramblin’.” Meanwhile, garage rompers Thee Shams kick some Stones-style ass-shake on “Release Me,” while Outrageous Cherry slaps an acid raga vibe on “Lord Have Mercy On Me.” Most of the players don’t stray too far from Kimbrough’s original, high lonesome sound – Mark Lanegan, Jack Oblivion and an admirably restrained The Blues Explosion strip down their tracks to the raw nerves with typically satisfying results, as does Pete Yorn (a major surprise, given his boho folk-popster past) on a spin through “I Feel Good Again” that serves up considerable hip-swing. Naturally, there are a couple of ringers, most notably from urban hipsters Entrance and Cat Power, who stumble through “Do The Romp” with all the sex drive of a room full of seminary students (someone shoulda introduced them to Iggy and the boys). But for the most part, Sunday Nights pulls off an impressive double play for a tribute album by serving up equal portions of respect and raunch. __________________________________________________ |
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-Paul Gaita |
As
Fat Possum headman Matthew Johnson rightly notes in this CD’s liner
notes, the world needs another tribute album with hip bands reworking the
obscure songs of a dead bluesman like it needs… oh, I dunno, pick your
social ill and run with it. But when the bluesman in question is the late
Junior Kimbrough, whose hypnotic, prehistoric guitar drone set him leagues
apart from the majority of Delta pickers that came up with him in the
early ‘90s, and the hip bands include the reunited Iggy and the Stooges,
Jack Oblivion, Thee Shams, Spiritualized, The Black Keys,
Mark Lanegan,
and The (Jon Spencer) Blues Explosion, an exception can definitely be
made.