Saturday, April 10, 2010

Ultraglide in Black (2001)

Nothing I know sounds like the Dirtbombs. The Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead used two drumkits too, but they sure as hell never sounded like this. Flipper also used two bass players and that's closer, but Flipper doesn't sound like the Dirtbombs. Vocalist Mick Collins sang with the Gories, but they didn't sound that much like the Dirtbombs either, nor any of the other Detroit peers of the time such as the White Stripes, although now we are starting to get close. But this freaky and shrewd confluence of mighty Detroit forces—the Dirtbombs, the Motown catalog, now appearing in one ring together—is notably like nothing else, a wall of catatonic funky sludge that destroys everything in its path, and even the undead likely move their liquid bones to it. Dig the titles: yeah, this is that "Chains of Love" and that "Livin' for the City" and that "Got to Give It Up" and "Livin' for the Weekend" and "If You Can Want." Smokey and Stevie and Marvin and Curtis, reanimated as never before. Hilarious and breathtaking and sure-footed and commanding all at once. Someone around here understood the mission.

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