Chew! What kind of wild sounds are shaking the old barn on this stuffy night? Did old man Ebenezer’s lawn mower finally get to the owner? Or did the Texas Friendship chainsaw run over the students? No, sir, it’s the Inflamed Billy calling the female hillbillies with a new song! A lonely psychopath, with a swaggering step, knocking out the echo from the rock and roll alleys, a man-orchestra, a man-mystery, a man-steamer. Bloodshot Bill.
Man-orchestra: he started performing in his native Montreal, Canada, in 1998, mercilessly accompanying himself on the guitar with his hands, kicking the drum, pioneer, those pioneers who explored the New World. Mystery man: from 2006 to 2011, he was not allowed to enter the United States, he mysteriously mentioned the reasons: “lack of paper.” Steamboat Man: crossed the Pacific Ocean, performing on islands where growling and hiccups are at a premium, reminiscent of the vernacular of his native Japanese.
Energy gushes out of Bill, knocking him down like the fumes of a Kentucky moonshiner: having made his debut in the recording industry in 2001, he currently has more than thirty releases, both solo and in various collaborations (King Khan, John Spencer, Deke Dickerson, etc.), as well as his own brand of grease “Nice’n’greasy”.
The recipe for Bloodshot Bill’s music remains unchanged, only growing stronger over the years: a flammable cocktail of cave rockabilly, Mesozoic country and graveyardly witty blues, recorded as if in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, sung by the voice of Charlie Feathers, who escaped from the climax of a lobotomy session. On the latest album Get Loose or Get Lost (translation: “Relieve yourself or get lost”), released on the Memphis label Goner Records, BB abandoned the frantic arrangements in the spirit of Hazel Adkins in favor of a full rhythm section, which he played himself, without an ensemble. Let’s enjoy it!
Garage That Feeling belongs to the time of the first experiments using lysergic acid on bipeds and other Yankees. Mutated atonal rock, funny and scary. The author of the song is someone with the iconic surname Laudani. Bloodshot Bill is joined by the Bloodshot Bill choir. In the best traditions of the worst trips. Don’t Let Go is a song that needs no introduction. Played according to the patterns of the previous one, but even funnier. It’s even scarier.
Baby Oh Baby is a traditional rural two-step according to the version of Inflamed Billy. Four-horned burenki graze in the distance, stepping over with thin spider legs. Cookout is a brutal instrument that Link Ray himself would envy. About the barbecue picnic. It is better for you not to know about the origin of meat.
Don’t Cry Alone is a ballad. Performed with the tenderness of a tyrannosaurus in love. Movin’ Faster is good for dancing around a distiller somewhere in the southern hinterland. And for the movie “The hills have eyes.”
A Cheat, first performed by Sanford Clark in 1956, is surprisingly close to the original here. Fortunately, the guitar part was already quite ominous back then. About a girl who turned out to be a fraud. Dedicated to European tourists in Thailand. The heroine of the song Meetin’ My Baby loves to dance rock and roll. The double bass clicks like her white bones. Crows from the churchyard singing along.
The harmony of the cowboy song My Heart Cries For You draws in the brain the sands and time-gnawed rocks of Nevada. A lonely, melodious, fading whistle. A mushroom growing alone on the horizon… The wild rockabilly swing Straight To The Moon with vocals a la “where’s my shuttle” seems to incite the SpaceX owner: “Well, hello, Iloshka, to heaven hozza? Here’s dynamite for you!”
Miss Betty is a beautiful number, rhythmically reminiscent of Johnny Ray’s “Such A Night”, although Ray has never sung so mockingly. Gone To Pieces, starting with a signature guitar boogie, quickly acquires a macabre tone. It looks like the heart of the lyrical hero has literally shattered into pieces.
Got To Love Me is a shuffle of lovesick longings and sighs under the moon. You may not understand, but your orangutans will like it. Switchin’ Gears is composed in the spirit of Buddy Holly, designed with the aplomb of Mad Max. It is good for off-road driving after the death of civilization.
Block Party is a sketch about living and drinking in the neighborhood, one of the best and most snide things on the One & Own record is rock with a hillbilly tinge, the final composition in which the degree of demonic fun is significantly lowered, slightly calming the shattered nerves and joints. The needle counts the last grooves with relief…
Bottom line: another excellent album by one of the brightest representatives of the modern rockabilly scene. Written and recorded with an elephant’s portion of humor and madness, it is recommended for listening to humorous madmen and crazy comedians. By the way, a reminder: it’s contagious! The rising sun is like a drum. Birds wheeze through the window in the baritone voice of an Inflamed Billy…
