The Flesheaters - I Used to Be Pretty

The Flesheaters started out as an LA "super group" consisting of friends of writer/singer Chris D., including the likes of Dave Alvin and Bill Bateman of the Blasters, John Doe and DJ Bonebrake of X and Steve Berlin, from every roots band in town that needed a sax player! They all joined behind Chris to realize his vision of swampy/voodoo/hypnotic/blues/punk/blurt backing his street poetry/lyrics. This version only released one album in the day (A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die) and then Chris continued on with various other line-ups (musicians who weren't in other super popular bands so they could gig with him regularly), before moving onto the more acoustic-oriented Divine Horsemen and eventually doing some sporadic solo work and reunion shows. Now, the original line-up is back and everyone is older but even better than before and the result is pretty darn mind boggling.

I only have a few Flesheaters albums so I am not familiar with the entire repertoire but as I research their discography I believe that many, if not all, of the songs on this new record were previously recorded with other line-ups, making this a kind of "greatest hits" package with revamped takes on the tunes. This is certainly not a problem as it is terrific to hear these incredible musicians take on these hep songs.

Here, the combo starts things off on a slow, mellow-ish mood with Bonebrake's vibes opening "Black Temptation", a brooder that swings'n'sways as everyone comes in and builds to a captivating chorus with Julie Christensen (ex-Divine Horsemen) joining Chris followed by powerful instrumental breaks from Berlin and Alvin. "House Amid the Thickets" has a riff that is similar to the Downliner Sects' "Leader of the Sect" but has a darker groove and nice layers of sax/guitars/vibes that ebbs and flows as Chris sings of fallin' for the fuck-ups. A highlight of Forever Came Today, "My Life to Live" is no less powerful here than in its earlier, stripped down version, but benefits from the varied instrumentation. Chris voice, always rough'n'ragged, sounds particularly tortured on this one.

I absolutely love their take on Fleetwood Mac's (Peter Green's) "The Green Manalishi" - a primitive pounder with excellent dynamics that is fueled by Bateman's powerful drumming and is given a neat touch with the interacting riffs between Berlin's sax and Bonebrakes' vibes and a smokin', melodic lead from Alvin. It's obvious that Chris is a fan of the Sonics (who isn't?) and he steals the lick from "Have Love, Will Travel" for the anti-religion rant, "Miss Muerte", but adds enough twists'n'turns to it to keep it fresh and once again Julie joins in to fill out the vocals and Dave attacks his strings for the finale. An extended workout, "The Youngest Profession" reminds me a bit of a slow, stompin' Panther Burns number with amazing sax squonk from Steve Berlin - he really knows how to get every little bit out of his instrument, from sweet melodies to maddening noise - intertwining with more ferocious guitar work from Alvin.

"Cinderella" (the Sonics) and "She's Like Heroin To Me" (Gun Club) are actually the weaker numbers from this set to my mind as they don't really work for Chris' voice, even though Jeffrey (GC) had one of the weaker voices in the LA scene, it still had a certain something. Maybe the arrangements could have been changed a bit? I seem to think that there was a bit more variety in the live takes, though now I am not certain. But, the band is pretty smokin' behind both, regardless.

There's a simple but catchy up'n'down riff the helps to drive the upbeat rocker "Pony Dress" and "The Wedding Dice" is one of D's most memorable songs and this band wails on it mightily while Berlin does a fine job of replicating his earlier squonk! The closing number of the live set is the transcendent, creepy-crawl of "Ghost Cave Lament", an elongated soundtrack to D's gothic, almost Edgar Allen Poe-ish lyrics backed by waves of emotion from the group. An amazing climax to the proceedings!

Seeing this line-up live was a awe-inspiring experience and while no recording can truly capture that kind of magic, this is pretty damn close. This record is going to be one of the highlights of the year for me, I think!