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“To me, there's nothing on earth other than women. It's why I get out of bed every morning.” (James Ellroy)
Afghan Whigs. Thirteen years later. The aesthetic backdrop to which memory resorts is a 1940s film noir (not coincidentally Greg Dulli, the bandleader, is an avid reader of Ellroy): a dark and crepuscular Los Angeles, half-smoked cigarette butts, and an empty glass, warm rays of dawn illuminating what remains of a night consumed in desire and regret, the face of her claiming once and again the forefront of the mind.
Dulli in these thirteen years has, in reality, not been idle and between Twilight Singers and side projects (among which it's worth mentioning the Gutter Twins with Mark Lanegan) he has always remained with us, an indefatigable Charon, a Shakespearian actor sly and composed, a drinking companion, a black and white diva captured in the sublime and heartbreaking moment of her unstoppable decline. He has confirmed himself, through ups and downs, an excellent interpreter of timeless torch songs, a perfect singer of that thin shadow line dividing day from night. In 2001, after the breakup of the Whigs and in the midst of his personal season in hell, he was reduced to being a bartender; lost in a whirlpool of drugs and varied addictions without touching a guitar for a year. The video of “Algiers” gives him back to us, slightly fatter but not defeated, with large dark glasses and a pimp suit confirming the Luciferian and provocative nature of the character. But let's get to the question any fan of the Cincinnati band would ask: Does a reunion with 2/4 of the original band make sense after almost three decades of absence, a time period in which the pop-rock world has drastically changed and not for the better? For me, the answer is affirmative. The songwriting is not always excellent, perhaps we could have spared ourselves without regret the hard trash tirade of “Parked Outside” and the beautiful but predictable “Algiers” and honestly also “Can Rova”, which pleases but fails to make a mark even after repeated listens. Despite this, the album offers some of Greg's best tracks of the last 10 years: the soul ballad “It Kills” (“It kills me to see you love another”) which transcends the pain of absence, with the Clare Torry-like howl of Van Hunt (almost a Greek chorus as Dulli defines it), the final crescendo of the magnificent “These Sticks” (which at the beginning not too subtly references Radiohead's “Street Spirit”), the updated and dance-funk-tinged Zeppelins of “Matamoros”. “Lost in the Woods” with its alternating of crepuscular piano-voice and sunny pop openings confirms itself as another pearl of the lot. Also excellent are “The Lottery” and “Royal Cream”, which seem like outtakes respectively from “Black Love” and “Gentlemen”, without ever reaching the heights of those two landmark albums. At the end of the listen, one realizes that the glories of the past might never be reached again, but the overall variety and the undeniable value of some tracks make it a more than dignified work, far from the nostalgic effect that inevitably weighs on operations of this kind. In a world where rockstars (or so-called rockstars) compete to quote this or that “cool” artist from the past, and where cheap kindness and morals abound like Hail Marys at a six o'clock mass; Dulli has no advice to give and could make his own that splendid phrase by Nabokov: “I am not a dog that runs to you wagging its tail, with a truth in its mouth”.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 If I Were Going (03:05)
(Dulli)
What should I tell her?
She's going to ask
If I ignore it, it gets uncomfortable
She'll want to argue about the past
Still I think she believes me
Every word I say
I think I'm starting to believe it all myself
Go ask the gentlemen who play it
But hate to pay
And it don't bleed, and it don't breathe
It's locked its jaws & now it's swallowing
It's in our heart, it's in our heads
It's in our love, baby, it's in our bed
It holds my arms down, sits upon my chest
It waves its finger at me every night and day
And it don't rest
And it don't breathe and it don't bleed
It's locked its jaws and now it's swallowing
It's all a lie, it's nearly dead
It's in our hope, baby, it's in our bed
02 Gentlemen (03:53)
Your attention please
Now turn off the light
Your infection please
I haven't got all night
Understand
Do you understand?
Understand
I'm a gentleman
I stayed in too long
But she was the perfect fit
And we dragged it out so long this time
Started to make each other sick
But now I've got time for you
For you, you, you and me too
Well, come and get it, come and get it
Cause I'm done
Understand
Do you understand?
Understand, I'm a gentleman
I'm a gentleman
I waited for the joke
It never did arrive
And words I thought I'd smoke
Let me in I'm cold
All messed up but nowhere to go
You got indecision, and indecision is my enemy
Unlock the cabinet
I'll take whatever you got
Now I'm on it, now I'm on it
And you're done
I waited for the joke
It never did arrive
And words I thought I'd choke
I hardly recognize
03 Be Sweet (03:36)
Ladies, let me tell you about myself
I got a dick for a brain
And my brain is gonna sell my ass to you
Now I'm OK, but in time I'll find I'm stuck
Cause she wants love, and I still want to fuck
Now that I'm ashamed, it burns
But the weight is off
Now that you're out of the way
I turn and I can walk
You showed no sympathy, my love
And this was no place for you and me to walk alone
On my grave, am I OK?
I'm sure I'm not
Ladies let me tell you about my love
She kept giving me more
But it wasn't enough
So understand
Now that I come to you
To understand my little self
To understand my little self
And baby you be sweetç
Be sweet, be sweet
04 Debonair (04:14)
Hear me now and don't forget
I'm not the man my actions would suggest
A little boy, I'm tied to you
I fell apart
That's what I always do
This ain't about regret
My conscience can't be found
This time I won't repent
Somebody's going down
Feel it now and don't resist
This time the anger's better than the kiss
I must admit when so inclined
I tend to lose it than confront my mind
Cause it don't bleed and it don't breathe
It's locked its jaws and now it's swallowing
It's in our heart
It's in our head
It's in our love
Baby it's in our bed
Tonight I go to hell
For what I've done to you
This ain't about regret
It's when I tell the truth
And once again the monster speaks
Reveals his face and searches for release
A little boy is tied to you
Attracted only 'til it comes unglued
05 When We Two Parted (05:47)
(Dulli/McCollum) Baby, I see you've made yourself all sick again Didn't I do a good job of pretending? You're saying that the victim doesn't want it to end Good. I get to dress up and play the assassin again It's my favorite It's got personality I should have seen this shit coming down the hall Every night I spent in that bed with you facing the wall If I could have only once heard you scream To feel you were alive Instead of watching you abandoning yourself Baby you can open your eyes now And please allow me to present you with a clue If I inflict the pain Then baby only I can comfort you Out of the night we come And into the night we go If it starts to hurt you Then you have to say so
06 Fountain and Fairfax (04:21)
Angel, I'm sober
I got off that stuff
Just like you asked me to
Angel, come closer
So the stink of your lies
Sinks into my memory
She said baby, forever,
But I don't like to be alone
So don't stay away too long
Now baby, forever,
Well it's Tuesday now
I hear him breathing inside of her
Let me drink
Let me tie off
I'm really slobbering now
Let it stink
Let it dry up
Is it impossible how
Angel, forever
Don't you promise me
What you cannot deliver
Angel, together
I'll be waiting for you
On Fountain and Fairfax
Let me drink
Let me tie off
I'm really slobbering now
Let it stink
Let it dry up
Is it impossible how
07 What Jail Is Like (03:30)
I'll scratch my way out of the pen
Wired, an animal
The claustrophobia begins
You think I'm scared of girls
Well maybe, but I'm not afraid of you
You want to scare me then you'll cling to me no matter what I do
Tell you a secret
They shared a needle once or twice
I loved her, she loved me
We slept together a couple of times
You think I'm proud of this
Well maybe
But the shame you never lose
Infatuated with a lunatic and cornered by the muse
And it goes down every night
This must be what jail is really like
And I will scratch my way out of this pen, again
Lonely, maybe
Or maybe not, it all depends
Your ideal, your image
Your definition of a friend
If what you're shoveling is company
Then I'd rather be alone
Resentment always goes
Much further than it was supposed to go
And it goes down every night
This must be what jail is really like
And I will scratch my way out of this pen
And I will fall back into it again
I'll warn you, if cornered
I'll scratch my way out of the pen
Wired, an animal
08 My Curse (05:46)
I flinch so when you do
Your kisses scourge me
Hyssop in your perfume
Oh, I do not fear you
And slave I only use
As a word to describe
The special way I feel for you
You look like me
And I look like no one else
We need no other
As long as we have ourselves
But I won't cry about it
Every time you get obsessed
Every time I came undressed
All ugly thoughts are gone
I'm sure we'll all be friends
I'll try to break your back
You'll try to make amends
Curse softly to me baby
And smother me in your love
Temptation comes not from hell but from above
And there's blood on my teeth
When I bite my tongue to speak
Zip me down, kiss me there
I can smile now
You won't find out ever
Hurt me baby
I flinch so when you do
Your kisses scourge me
Hyssop in your perfume
Oh I do not fear you
And slave I only use as a word to describe
The way I feel when I'm with you
If I have to lie about it everytime I came undressed
10 I Keep Coming Back (04:51)
I wanna leave you
But I just can't leave you
I keep coming back for a little more of your love
I wanna go away, but honey, I just can't stay
I keep coming back for a little more of your love
And I can't understand when try as hard as anyone can
Each night I dream I wake up and scream
Aah baby, That I love you woman I love You
Oh baby, I realise I treat you wrong
But I'm so sorry Let me come back were I belong
You see I'm your fool I lost my cool
Ah baby, that love you woman
I love you and I wouldn't lie
Oh, but I lay down and die
Oh baby, that I love you woman
Oh baby, that I love you woman
That I love you woman
I love you
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Other reviews
By trellheim
The music is the kind that gets under the skin immediately, visceral, able to wander inside the host organism to shake it mercilessly or to caress it gently.
The Afghan Whigs paint the monster that lurks hidden within all of us: the one that chokes us and leaves us breathless among infatuations of the ego, remorse, and listless consciences.
By birobiro
Emotions that pierce through infinity to strike right at the soul's core, piercing, abysmal wounds that, when awakened, provoke ecstasy and torment.
The Afghan Whigs are and will forever remain one of my favorite bands... Truly, one of the most beautiful and heartfelt albums I have ever listened to.
