Gun Club -Death Party

 

After reading Kid Congo's excellent book, I pulled out some of my old Gun Club vinyl that I haven't listened to for ages (altho Kid does not appear on this) and remembered that this 12" EP was one of my fave releases after the first couple of albums. This is the only record from the band's line up of Jim Duckworth on guitar and Dee Pop on drums, here aided by Jimmie Joe Uliana on bass (regular bassist Patricia Morrison wasn't available for this spur of the moment recording session) and Texacala Jones adding some vocalizing.

The record opens with "The House on Highland Ave", an ode to an abode in Hollywood and its inhabitants in a repetitive chord riff and production reminiscent of some of the tunes off of Miami. Apparently, I was struck enough by "The Lie" to steal it for one of my songs for Thee Fourgiven (with changes, of course) - it's a chunky groover with an interesting progression and melody, although the chorus may repeat just a bit too often, but that's nit-picking. Although Jeffrey strains his voice past his small range, "The Light of the World" still has plenty of coolness, with neat, feedbacked guitar and plenty of catchiness. But it's the title cut, "Death Party", that really stands out, with Duckworth's guitar approaching Cramps-ian, noisy greatness - enough so that I initially thought it was Kid here, but Jim has his own expressive style, making it a shame that this is his only recording with this combo. Definitely the most powerful cut on the record, between Jim's fantastic guitar work and Pierce positively (drunkenly?) shrieking! For "Come Back Jim", the band brings back memories of their debut, with propulsive, train-kept-a-rollin' drumming, wanderin' bass lines and simple yet effective guitar chording. 

It's a scandal and a crime that there's not more from this particular Gun Club congregation but dig this one - if you don't have it, get it - apparently there are plenty of copies out there at a reasonable price. If you dig their debut, you're sure to love this EP!