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Rating: The creative trajectory of the Afghan Whigs in the 90s traced some of the brightest musical paths of that decade, oscillating essentially between two poles: grunge and post-punk guitar aggressions (a perfect example of this was "Congregation," the last album for Sub Pop) and a pronounced sensitivity towards funk, blues, and soul. If the masterpiece "Gentlemen" represented the perfect and dangerous osmosis between these elements, the subsequent albums shifted the balance towards the black soul of the Afghan mixture. After the conceptual and tormented "Black Love," in 1998 it was the turn of "1965." Proudly presented by Greg Dulli at the time of release with combative proclamations ("If this year you find a more rock and roll album than this, I'll give you a blowjob in Leicester Square," he said to a guy from NME), this work was, however, below expectations, and it was no coincidence that it drew the curtain on the Afghan Whigs' affairs. More than rock and roll, it should be called "soul and roll", since the album was recorded in New Orleans - the cradle of blues and jazz as well as a notoriously ambiguous and promiscuous place, an ideal setting for the murky hard-boiled stories of the one who among these grooves calls himself "Sweet Son of a Bitch." Dulli's love for black music thus found its natural expression in the album that, in the end, had always been in his heart, but which he brought to fruition once the urgency of grunge had passed. Rick McCollum's guitar contribution, in particular, is often ghostly, lacking the searing bite that was one of the band's hallmarks.
The sound of "1965" is theoretically spectacular: brass, piano, and violin follow each other without interruption to inlay the 11 compositions present here. The whole thing is inspired by the mixture that had made Satchel's "Family" a classic of the '90s (after all, Shawn Smith was a guest on "Black Love"). Theoretically, precisely: because in practice, many episodes move on the tracks and struggle to leave a mark. The band's skill in navigating sophisticated scores (as in the funky-gospel tour de force of "John the Baptist," or in the cajun blueprint of "Cite soleil," both excellent tracks) is indisputable, and Greg sings with passion and a determined attitude. But there is often a mainstream patina that undermines it all ("66" in particular), and the absence of the monumental drama of the past is noticeable, even in the lyrics of the not yet stout Greg, sometimes entrenched in a maudit mannerism ("I got the devil in me, girl" is symptomatic...). In particular, ballads like "Crazy" or "The slide song" pale in comparison to any "My curse," while the lascivious spurts of "Somethin' hot" and "Uptown again" no longer have the clarity of the past.
But class is not water, and at the end of "1965" the Cincinnati gambler pulled out a couple of aces with which to save the game. "Neglected" to begin, a vicious ballad between Prince and Marvin Gaye with gentleman-like lyrics such as "You can fuck my body, baby/ But please don't fuck my mind"
But it is in the infernal rock-free jazz ride of "Omerta/The Vampire Lanois" that Dulli forged the last gem: a worthy soundtrack for the magical New Orleans of Mardi Gras. And then: what better epitaph for this inimitable group than a phrase like "When you're high and lost in the clouds/ Then you know it's time to get down, again"?
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Somethin' Hot (02:57)
- Dulli -
I got your phone number, baby
I'll call you sometime
I think I might, be out tonight
Maybe give you a ride
Cocktails for two, down lover's lane
I wantcha so bad, after tonight
I'll never walk the same
And you're to blame
I wanna getcha high
I wanna get next to you
I wanna feel everything aboutcha, girl
I wanna feel good
You make me feel good
Baby, you don't know
Just how I lie awake
And dream awhile, about your smile
And the way you make yo ass shake
If that ain't love
I guess I'll never know
A sweeter lie, you'd be surprised
Just how far I'd go
To make it so
02 Crazy (04:04)
- Dulli -
Whatever did happen to your soul?
I heard you sold it
To some old boy who lived uptown
Who could afford it
So what's gonna happen to you now?
Therapy... The pharmacy
Crazy
That's what you'd like to believe
But it ain't easy
When yer goin' crazy
Over the rainbow
"I think your story's jive," she said
There ain't nuthin' wrong with me
If I use it to get me some sympathy
Some ecstasy
A memory... I wanna remember me
Crazy about ya
Crazy without ya
Crazy
Over you
03 Uptown Again (03:11)
- Dulli -
Uptown again
Nobody home
Feelin' surrounded
Should never left me on my own
Remember nothing, hypnotize
They say the eyes they never lie
Your eyes have failed you dear, deny
Deny, deny I know you'll try
Baby, untie me now
I'm ready to get down
Get down and move around
Baby, you cry too much
I'm tired of the sound
Yer such a baby
Uptown again
Throw me a bone
Feelin' surrounded
I've never done so well alone
05 66 (03:23)
You walked in
Just like smoke
With a little c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
In your walk
Come on
I've been waiting
Are you waiting
For my move?
Well, I'm making it
So tell me baby, can you shake it?
If I can move it with you,
Will you let me take it?
I'll be down on my knees,
Screaming, "Take me, take me
Take me, take me - I'm yours."
I've never felt so out of control
You don't even know
What you're doing to me
C'mon and do it to me
Don't you stop
C'mon, c'mon
C'mon, little rabbit
Show me where you've got it
'Cos I know you've got a habit...
C'mon, c'mon...
Show me.
06 Citi Soleil (05:05)
- Dulli -
Jean Content
He wake up everyday
In a government yard
Deep down inside Citi Soleil
Roll some bones and catch a fire
Evil minds, they will conspire
The moon to lose its light
The stars sink into night
Across the town
A young girl plays guitar
"Do you remember me?" She sings to a lover
She worships from afar
Roll some bones and catch a fire
Evil minds, they will expire
The moon to shine a light
Upon us all tonight
Ooh child, I'll meet you, child
On the sunny side, it's alright, it's alright
No lies, and no cryin'
It's alright
"How you like me now?"
My friend, he say
"How you like the madness of Citi Soleil?"
Roll the bones and catch a fire
Join the triumph of the choir
Citi Soleil, Citi Soleil
I love to say Citi Soleil
07 John the Baptist (05:34)
- Dulli -
Hey... Welcome home
I got a little wine
Some Marvin Gaye
Come on and taste me
Come on and take me, I'm yours
Dance, little sister, dance
This is my girl you're talkin' to
There isn't anything I wouldn't do
So take me... Taste me... Erase me
I'm yours... Let's get it on
Anything for a lover
Anything for a friend
I only wanna see you happy
Baby can we pretend
I'd give anything to see you dance
I'd give anything to see you smile
But baby doesn't want just anything
She wants everything
Hey... Welcome home
I got a little wine
I got a little time
So come on and take me
Come on and taste me
Come on and waste me
Come on erase me
I'm yours... Let's get it on
I got the devil in me, girl
08 The Slide Song (03:54)
- Dulli -
Baby
Don't make me worry aboutcha
You look so sad
What'd ya do, to make ya so blue?
I have to ask ya, where do you go?
You look so faraway sometimes
I don't know, where do you go?
I wanna go
Miles away and miles above
The vampire only wants a little love
You might be right, you might be
Everything that you said that you were
But, so?
Baby
Don't make me worry... Aboutcha
They say that goodbye
Arrives by design
Who do you think about when you're lonely?
I remember when you used to sing
About your one and only
You're such a phony
Now I finally know you really know me
Miles away and miles above
The vampire only wants a little love
A little love, a little more
He's got ya now
You're gone for sure
09 Neglekted (04:01)
- Dulli/McCollum -
I knew a girl, extraordinary
Suggested something, unsanitary
As I asked her for a moment
To consider her kind offer
She blew a kiss and said to me...
I know you know
You want it so
I want it too, so see it through
'Cuz when I do what I'm gonna do to you
Make sure you remember my name
You know it's true
I want it too
I know you know, so make it so
'Cuz when I do what I'm gonna do to you
You'll never ever, ever...
Intoxicated, by your aggression
I offer you my one possession
You can fuck my body, baby
But pleeze, don't fuck my mind
Get you high, girl, come with me
Take a ride in search of ecstasy
I wanna roll with ya, I wanna roll
I feel you now, I never knew
You were so sad, i'll make it up to you
'Cuz I feel you now
I feel you now...
10 Omerta (05:40)
- Dulli/McCollum -
Up all night, again
Az for sleep, no comprende
I don't sleep 'cuz sleep iz the cousin of death
Least that's what Nas say
Sleep iz a state of mind
And to know iz to be on your way
I bought some bad drugs
Off these snotty little rave kids I met
And I shuffled off to Buffalo
If I have love, then I hide it
Then the people that I hide it from
Have helped me to deny
That it's not enough to show you care
You gotta take on every double cross
And every double dare, I swear to you
Unchain your mind, become divine
Surrender, surrender my love
And get on down here and say it with me
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Sick and tired again
Fucked and wired again
It's all so beautiful
Sound like a stone temple sob story to me
If I'm on your mind again
You must be trippin' on some of that
Voodoo I been throwin' down
When you're high and lost in the clouds
Then you know it's time to get down, again
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