Angel Air Records (label)
08 July 2013 (released)
23 July 2013
Unlike many other bands that transform folk roots into rock, UK-based outfit the Ugly Guys take the reverse step by incorporating rock in their country tunes – and presenting us with this fine new album!
The Ugly Guys are legendary Kursaal Flyers members Paul Shuttleworth and Vic Collins, who, together with Steve Oliver, Andy Farrell and Bob Clouter, remain loyal to their love for heartfelt country, and cosmic American music in general. Like on the previous album, the band pays homage to artists like Emmylou Harris, The Flying Burrito Brothers and of course Gram Parsons (a friend described Ugly Guys’ music as ‘Gram rock’). But influences from bands like The Byrds also shine trough, what am I saying, it all goes back to Parsons & Co…
Equipped with all the additional instruments that get the country pulse racing (and we’re talking dobro, mandolin, banjo, pedal steel), ‘Lost In The Badlands’ offers 13 tracks, out of which two are cover versions. First one is ‘Truck Driving Man’ by Alabama born Terry Fell, and second one is ‘Modern Music’ by Southender Mickey Jupp. In fact, during the mid-60’s, Bob Clouter had played drums in Mickey’s R&B outfit The Orioles.
And here’s for another piece of irrelevant trivia, brought to you by the Marc Bolan/T.Rex nut that yours truly happens to be: Jupp’s second band was called Legend, and the second line-up included a certain Bill Fifield on drums. Of course, Fifield left to join T.Rex… under the name Bill Legend. But we better move away from glam rock to discuss a bit of Gram rock!
Opener ‘The Hard Way’ makes for the perfect pub-rock honker, and Shuttleworth’s vocals are as potent as you’d expect them to be, while well-timed backing vocals contribute to the feelgood factor.
‘Heart River Falls’ and ‘A Man’s Gotta Do’ sound as good and as convincing as anything worthy coming from Nashville, delivering all the right hillbilly twangs, and with a show-off banjo intro added on the latter.
Title song ‘Lost In The Badlands’ starts out like a modern-day Western ballad, before gradually climbing up to rockier territory, with spot-on backing vocals and exquisite riff work. Lyrically though, there’s a feeling of real gloom and remorse running through.
Unless you know it, you would never guess that the aforementioned Jupp cover ‘Modern Music’ is the product of Englishmen, that’s just how very West Coast it sounds! What a difference to the R&B spin of the original track, and a sax is nowhere to be heard in the Ugly Guys re-worked version.
‘Did You Ever Know’ is the one song on the album that doesn’t feature Shuttleworth on lead vocals. Taking over here is bassist Andy Bell, who also wrote it. Although I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Mr. Bell displays lead vocal potential, it’s nonetheless a nicely composed melancholic anti-love song, with some heavy guitar riffs slicing further through Bell’s already wounded heart.
The upbeat ‘Wrong Side Of Memphis’ and ‘Written All Over Your Face’ again are well-bred country ditties, while ‘Help Yourself’ excels in the lyrics compartment. It’s a wonderfully bittersweet and twisted tale about a guy who comes to rely on the devil’s help via the Lord Jesus, infused with one teardrop of gospel. Probably wouldn’t enter the charts in the Bible belt, something tells me.
‘The Man Who Couldn’t Pay’ actually brings to mind some 1950’s pulp noir movie, but no – we are bestowed with a fast-paced country & western ditty of the purest kind, dobro and all that comes with it.
You got to hand it to Shuttleworth and Oliver – they sure have a knack for bona fide word-smithery! ‘Annie Oakley Hat’ is another example, and this tongue-in-cheek song about Buffalo Bill’s most famous show shooter is a pure delight: “Riding bareback thru the sagebrush on her Appaloosa mare / She can plug a silver dollar when I toss it in the air / She got an itchy trigger finger that she always loves to squeeze / My sweetheart of the rodeo / She always aims to please.” This ain’t for tenderfoots!
You know you’re in for a cover version when the song is about a ‘Truck Driving Man’. While the Terry Fell original is a lot more bluegrass/Appalachian folk orientated, including a fitting nasal twang by its singer, our five local cowboys managed to turn this into a country sizzler that comes over as seasoned as a taco tastes (I said taco, not burrito…). Great keyboards as well!
The Ugly Guys might not look like the hottest act to step out of a last chance saloon, but they sure deliver the goods with much gusto and bravado!
(Catch the band tomorrow eve, Wednesday, for when they play The Crown in Leytonstone to celebrate their album launch!)