In the late 70's, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo formed Creeping Ritual. They changed their name to The Gun Club around 1980. After Kid Congo left for The Cramps, the line up solidified: Ward Dotson, Rob Ritter, Terry Graham and Jeffrey Lee. It was this line up that made their two classic albums Fire of Love and Miami. Their dark, vulgar, and often visceral music more closely resembled post-punk and foreshadowed alternative rock, with its eclectic blues, punk, garage rock, new wave, country, and rockabilly influences.
It's 4am and my keyboard is barely working so I'm letting some, uh, guest writers fill in for this post.
Things people have to say about this album:
"I love their usage of slide guitar, it's really effectively blended in and it gives them a unique appeal that I rarely hear from this style of band. Also the musicianship here is pretty darned super, and usually when one looks at a band which borders on punk it's not always the case either. The songs are also quite awesome, full of energy and gusto and sex, black magic and heroin. Even though the album has a really cohesive sound it never comes close to being boring or repetitive."
"Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a white boy who howled tunes that reminded one of his popular blues standards. However, he sang with just as much as passion as any obscure Delta player and added that extra punk edge to the songs. And what songs they are, hes a truly phenomenal writer. His lyrics occasionally bring to mind Jim Morrison, but are never nearly as pretentious. The music itself is throughly rocking, creating a blues-punk agglomeration that was much copied, but never equaled. Legendary for a reason."
"Le droghe non hanno ucciso Jeffrey Lee. Nemmeno l’alcol ha ucciso Jeffrey Lee. E neanche le donne hanno ucciso Jeffrey Lee. Il blues, ha ucciso Jeffrey Lee."
dl Fire of Love here (55.17 mb, mp3)
Things people say about this album:
"The Gun Club raised some more hell on Miami, but with a difference. Whereas the first album had transformed bestial instinct to a supernatural experience - a frenetic dance of demons, a celebration of the timeless spirit of rock'n'roll - the more restrained and spare Miami focused more on the emotional aspect: the wild cry of the wounded animal, the tortured soul of the performer."
"my first reaction when i listened to this was "jesus christ - jeffrey lee pierce really can't sing. why didn't i notice it on "fire of love"? but after about 4 or 5 listens all of a sudden the vocals fit perfectly and the songwriting was genius."
dl Miami here (54.96 mb, mp3)
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5 comments:
this band is incredible.
ilu jeffrey lee.
i've bought Fire Of Love lately and i can't stop listening to it! Now, thanks to you, i can share this cult album with my friends at PCL LinkDump
Fire of Love has been one of my favorites for years. A couple months ago I got Miami from eMusic. I had avoided it all this time because people always say it's "not as good." Bad judgement finally corrected! It's a completely different album, but a great one in its own way.
Thank you so much for posting the link to Fire of Love!
The frenzied energy is absolutely amazing and it sounds just as intense to me as it did the first time I heard it in the early 80's.
Nobody rocks the way the Gun Club rocks!
R.I.P. Jeffrey Lee
Awesome post! Thanks!
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