Reverend Horton Heat - Laughin' and Cryin' with the Reverend Horton Heat Review
Posted by Jesse Coy on 10.03.2009
The Reverend has returned to deliver his sermon, throwing welcoming arms wide open to all comers, new folks and old friends, from the converted to the perverted.
Reverend Horton Heat Laughin' and Cryin' with the Reverend Horton Heat
Yep Roc Records
September 2009
Drinkin' and Smokin' Cigarettes– 4:04
Ain't No Saguaro in Texas– 3:41
Death Metal Guys– 3:20
River Ran Dry– 2:40
Please Don't Take the Baby to the Liquor Store– 2:53
Aw, the Humanity– 4:40
Rural Point of View– 3:30
Oh God! Doesn't Work in Vegas– 4:28
Spacewalk– 2:45
Beer Holder– 3:48
Crazy Ex-Boyfriend– 3:19
There's a Little Bit of Everything in Texas– 2:24
Just Let Me Hold My Paycheck– 4:26
Oh, By Jingo– 2:08
Ah, the Reverend… for those in the know, well aware of Reverend Horton Heat, I wonder when it was that you might have become familiar with him. My first exposure was via 1994’s Liquor in the Front release, the band’s third album, produced by none other than Ministry’s Al Jourgensen. As can be expected, that one was a wild and crazy ride. I went ahead and picked up the follow-up, It’s Martini Time, not too long after, that one predicting Brokeback Mountain more than ten years ahead of its time, with “Cowboy Love” (hell, maybe those moviemakers were inspired by the Reverend).
And then much time passed before I picked up another album by Reverend Horton Heat. It wasn’t because I didn’t like what I had. Reverend Horton Heat specialized in a sort of psychobilly, rockabilly hybrid. If you want to know the real reason, it’s because this discographer usually goes “used,” and most of the Reverend’s releases run at the same price used as they do new. A few years ago, I finally got their second release, The Full Gospel Sounds, and I’ve also caught the band live on two occasions over the years (a half-show in Seattle during Bumbershoot, and a full, great concert in Tucson).
Of course, nabbing their second album doesn’t help me connect the dots from what I had to this one, the band’s tenth studio release. Not that I necessarily need to do that. Yet I always like to come into a review as well versed as possible. But hey, we can’t listen to all the albums out there, can we? And we’re not talking major changes that leave Reverend Horton Heat radically different from what I knew of the band to now. My first overall impression was simple and sound enough. Compared to releases of old, this one embraces the country sound a bit more, or has a somewhat slower pace than what I’m used to on the older albums. This is neither good nor bad. It all depends on what you like of Reverend Horton Heat. The humor is still firmly in place, and that’s far more a band trademark as opposed to how they actually serve up their brand of rockabilly.
And actually, the way this album is laid out track wise, you might not hear the slowdown until the end, because they start off with some of their faster paced ones. One of the best, and coincidentally most humorous tracks, is the third track, “Death Metal Guys,” where the Reverend illustrates the difference between rockabilly guys and death metal guys. After the first listen, you know this one’s a classic. Its neighbor is “River Ran Dry,” a foot-stomper of a tune. As for “Ain’t No Suguaro in Texas,” with its Mexican accordion flourishes, this one is likely my favorite beside “Death Metal Guys,” though I’m not sure everyone might get it the way someone like me, a resident of Tucson, AZ for more than five years, where the suguaro cacti actually grows, will get it. I know exactly what he’s talking about. Everyone else? Time for a fun factual lesson.
Other highpoints on Reverend Horton Heat’s tenth release? If the second half slows the tempo down compared to the first few tracks, “Oh God! Doesn’t Work in Vegas” is an appropriate pickup, giving a nice knock to those asking for heavenly influence on that last roll of the dice. “Please Don’t Take Baby to the Liquor Store” is a very humorous white trash or alcoholic anthem, interesting coming from a male’s perspective, as though he’s beseeching the mother to refrain from this behavior. The flip side, “Just Let Me Hold My Paycheck” turns into a real cry-in-your-beer ditty, this poor schlub having to hand his paycheck over to his other boss, the woman (his wife). Finally, the mid-tempo “Rural Point of View” is a quite intelligent contrast of rural view versus city view. It’s got its funny moments, but it does leave one reconsidering, pondering the other side of some issues.
The Reverend is still not an abstainer, so if you’re familiar with what he and his band does, the opener is probably quite apt. If not, get comfortable. Feel free to sit a spell, “Drinkin’ and Smokin’ Cigarettes” with Reverend Horton Heat.
The 411: True to the album’s title, you may find yourself laughing and crying with the Reverend through the course of these fourteen tracks. There’s humor a-plenty, blended with sad tales of those down-and-out on their luck. It’s all set through the prism of a Texan microcosm.
