
Gore Gore Girls - "Get the Gore"
Review created: 07/06/07(updated 08/26/07)
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Recorded at Jim Diamond’s studio Ghetto Recorders, scene of past White Stripes sessions and also produced by the former Dirtbomb, this debut release for Bloodshot Records is an excellent hybrid of Sonics style garage-punk-raunch and 60's girl-group sass that blends lacerating shreds of vintage Gretsch guitar workouts, infectious handclap rhythms and sweet n sour harmonies to great effect. “Fox in a Box” encapsulates all of the above in a frenzied two-minute garage stomper, while the feral “Pleasure Unit”, co-written with Runaways Svengali and legendary producer Kim Fowley, signals the sleazy, rock -n- roll detour up ahead. When Surdu’s sultry voice growls “Deep down inside I’m a selfish witch -- One half tomboy and one half bitch”, you come to realize that these girls won’’t just break your heart, they’’ll rip it out of your chest and stomp on it. Most likely to crunching guitars and a danceable beat. There are plenty of opportunities on this record to party your heart out, from the sitar-laced psychedelia of “Where Evil Grows”, a cover of an obscure 60's Canadian group the Poppy Family and the equally obscure but frenetic version of Texas psych band the Lavender Hour’s “So Sophisticated” with added sound bite intro from Lewis’s classic “The Wizard of Gore” to the better known Crystals and or Dixie Cups recording “All Grown Up” penned by Brill Building songsmiths Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and a young Phil Spector, that remains faithful to its girl-group origins while adding a shimmy-inducing, Gretsch wall of sound replete with handclaps. But if truly raucous is what you want then that’s what you’ll get with the Girls offering up original garage-punk nuggets such as the six-string mayhem of “Voodoo Doll” and “Casino” while the closing instrumental number “Hammer Stomp” will nail your ass to the wall.
This is a 38-minute, mini-masterpiece of garage-punk bravado that allows the heady sound of the Gore Gore Girls to not so gently bleed into your ears. Once heard, never to be forgotten. In fact, the album even comes with its own cautionary sticker of sorts written by Lewis, which states: “To appreciate this music, you have to have a streak of wildness, a fierce independence of spirit, and an absolute belief in the strange, the unpredictable, the offbeat, and even the generally unacceptable.” You have been warned.
TRACK LIST:
1. Fox in a Box
2. Loaded Heart
3. All Grown Up
4. Pleasure Unit
5. Casino
6. Don't Cry
7. Mary Ann
8. You Lied to Me Before
9. So Sophisticated
10. Little Baby
11. Sweet Potato
12. Voodoo Doll
13. Hammer Stomp
Review ID: 10000000003940038

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