•
Rating:
What the hell, they could have at least warned us.
The Firewater - a sort of supergroup originating from Cop Shoot Cop (vocals & bass), Jesus Lizard (guitar), Soul Coughing (drums), Blues Explosion (saxophone), and others - are the (super)gem you don't expect. A chart-topping bar band between Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Foetus, with an ear for melody and the proper noir sensibility to mix circus, scraps of Indian exoticism, radio-friendly rock, violins and piano insertions, nicotine-laden songwriting, soundtrack-style grandiosity, subcutaneous jazz, and folk dances.
Jaw-dropping: among smoky stages, calm street exhibitionism, a coffee and a cigarette at the bar, emerges a hybrid, encyclopedic, multifaceted, arranged, chiseled, properly shaken cocktail, possibly ready to be blasted at full volume in your car stereo. What Pearl Jam could have been if they were born in Sydney instead of Seattle and had spent years getting by playing in the basement of some pub.
One of those rare cases where every song is potentially a single: twelve small operettas in the form of rock songs destined to immediately hit, sink, and last over time. In short, a show in the true sense of the word. I swear it will irreparably take over your stereo, you won't be able to do without it. And screw the review: I encourage, recommend, urge, and sincerely invite you to listen to this damned album.
Obviously: released in '98, it's already out of print (thanks Universal). Otherwise, it would be at the top of all possible sales charts; in a better world.
Causes addiction.
Loading comments slowly
