Reverend Horton Heat will make you cry with laughter

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Texas Rockabilly revivalists Reverend Horton Heat deliver exactly what you expect on their  new CD “Laughin’ and Cryin’.”  There’s lots of scorching, twanging Gretsch powered guitar mayhem, lots of  train track stand up bass slapping and popping, the Reverend’s quirky  sense of humour we all know and love,  and an unstoppable drummer who takes you back to the dark side of 1955— leather jackets, greased back hair, hot rods,  racing for pink slips, beer and cigarettes. There is even an accordion on ‘Ain’t No Saguaro in Texas’ for that Tex-Mex feel.
Whether  they’re singing about , alcohol, crazy ex-boyfriReverend Horton Heat Coverends, hot rods, death metal guys or the Rural Point of View, there is enough  great guitar, balls to the wall riffs, weird humour and alcohol to go around. Which makes them  top notch in my books.
Some highlights include “Death Metal Guys’ which compares the lives of rockabilly cats and death metal guys, and the ear bleeding solo of “River Ran Dry.”
The humour comes out on  a jazz tinged ‘Please Don’t Take the Baby to the Liquor Store’ and ‘Rural Point of View’ which takes some thinly veiled shots at city folks and their point of view. ‘Oh God Doesn’t  in Vegas’ is an entertaining rockabilly romp about gambling addictions. As usual, “Laughin’ and Cryin’’ has an instrumental— a Hawaiian slide flavoured  slower number called ‘Spacewalk.”
The old school country influence comes out on “Beer Holder.”
He ends with another humourous number “Just Let Me Hold my Paycheque.” before concluding with another tasty spaghetti western style  original.
—By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
CD: Laughin’ and Cryin’
band: Reverend Horton Heat
Genre: rockabilly
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