CD Odyssey Disc 1645: The Jazz Butcher

From very old music to music from just last year!

Disc 1645 is…The Highest in the Land

Artist: The Jazz Butcher

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Pat Fish who is either a member of the Jazz Butcher or the Jazz Butcher himself depending on who you ask. I’ll pretend the band is Fish alone because he writes all the songs, and doing so makes it narratively easier to write.

Here we find Fish coming out of Gare Du Nord which is a major Subway station in Paris. I’ve been there and my advice is to keep your wallet tightly gripped throughout your experience because the place is teeming with pickpockets.

Fish seems unconcerned about such things as he nonchalantly smokes a cigarette. How very continental.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review of this record and decided to check him out. Shortly thereafter I ordered it from Bandcamp.

Did I give this album a chance because it has a song about a Jaguar on it? Or maybe because the band's title is an attack on jazz? I'll just say neither of those facts hurt its chances.

How It Stacks Up: I dug deep into the Jazz Butcher’s discography, which features 14 studio releases dating back to the mid-eighties. Of those I only liked two enough to buy and of those two “The Highest in the Land” comes in a very close second. Which is last if you are only looking at my collection, but second best if you compare against the entire discography. Perspective is everything.

Rating: 4 stars

Pat Fish is the coolest guy at every party. He’s not dressed flashy, and he’s not the most verbose. He’s the guy who hangs around the edges. Maybe sitting in a leather chair having a scotch in the parlour, maybe out on the deck smoking a cigarette. Always with a natural constellation of revelers cycling through his orbit to hear what fascinating and insightful thing he might say next.

That’s how his music comes across, anyway. These tunes are not – thank goodness – jazz, but rather a chill indie folk-pop thing, unassuming and easy going. The musicians apply a light touch and let Fish’s mellifluous tones wander purposefully across the top of the mix, dispensing a steady stream of images and references, with an occasional piece of wisdom buried, nugget-like, within.

Like the album’s cover the music feels very cosmopolitan, referencing far off places like Ankara and the Amalfi Coast with the ease and familiarity of someone who has been there. These places are more backdrops of memory than centerpieces to the songs. One of the album’s charms is its disparate approach to scene and character, evoking emotion and story with an offhanded ease.

Fish was in his early sixties when he recorded the record and wears the folk influences of his youth on his sleeve. Most of the time this is a good thing, and I even enjoyed the way he threw Dylan’s line “I married Isis on the fifth day in May” in the middle of “Never Give Up”, stealing Bob’s girl and then promptly losing her is a sea of disfunction.

Less enjoyable was the wholesale melody grab he does on “Running on Fumes,” the first verse of which is a near-perfect match to Dylan’s “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts”. I wouldn’t have minded if the album jacket had an acknowledgement of the repurposing but it was not to be found. Rappers can nip samples without telling, Pat, but everyone else needs to footnote.

For all that, “Running on Fumes” is a great song – a lovely exploration of the quiet desperation we were all feeling across the globe in October of 2021 when it was recorded. Fish references the loss of “Lemmie, Bowie and Prince” and then goes for a deeper dive bemoaning the loss of Herman Hesse and Mackie Messer (aka Mack the Knife). I guess all that isolation can send your brain weird and archaic places if you let it.

The album is also self-referential, which is not surprising for an artist who had been at it for close to 40 years. On the album’s title track he mentions ‘Black Raoul’, who is the title character from a song off of 2012’s “Last of the Gentleman Adventurers”. That song references Mackie Messer and on “Highest In the Land” Fish references “Mackie Messer” – the original German for the same character. These concentric circles of allusion feel very deliberate – little Easter eggs for the benefit of those who care to listen closely.

Pat Fish died in Fall of 2021 shortly before the release of this record, making it his last. While 63 is too young to depart the earth, I’m glad he left on a high note. The highest in the land, in fact.

Best tracks: Melanie Hargreaves’ Father’s Jaguar, Sea Madness, Never Give Up, Running on Fumes

CD Odyssey Disc 1644: Various Artists

This next record holds a LOT of music and to get through it in a reasonable time frame. I had to get creative to get a full listen in and a review before my work week resumes, but the combination of the long weekend and getting out of bed early today has provided me the space and time required.

Disc 1644 is…We’ll Meet Again: 50 Wartime Favourites

Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 1939 to 1945 (OK – one song from 1931, but otherwise the war years)

What’s up with the Cover?  With the white cliffs of Dover in the background, we must assume this gaggle of partiers are storming the beaches of France. Despite the air support in the background, they do not look well equipped for the mission.

Or maybe this is post-war and these revelers are driving around some old equipment for shits and giggles.

How I Came To Know It: I was shopping for other music and this was sitting innocuously in a display, coyly calling out to middle aged history buffs with a penchant for war history and old timey tunes.

How It Stacks Up: This is a collection of music, not a true album, so can’t stack up.

Rating: As a compilation record, there is no rating assigned. If you want to know what I thought about it in more general terms, you’ll have to take a deep breath and read the review.

“We’ll Meet Again” is a large (fifty-song) compilation of music recorded and played during World War Two. With any compilation this big you’re going to have some winners and some losers.

It has been almost eighty years since the Second World War ended, and as time goes along, we remember the events, but it is easy to lose contact with the feel of those same events for the people who lived the experience. For much of the war, heartache and uncertainty were the order of the day, and the grief real and imminent.

In dark times I often turn to music to help sustain me, and the people living through the war were no different. You might expect music of the era to capture that uncertainty and turn dark and foreboding, but you’d be wrong. The Greatest Generation were also the “Rub dirt on it” generation. Don’t expect a lot of doleful music here – the people living through war opted for stoicism over sadness, and a stiff upper lip over a trembling one.

The word that kept circling around in my head as I listened to this collection was “escapism”. These are songs about pure love and joy, and even when the war is mentioned (as it often is) it is in a light-hearted way. Troubles with logistics and troops going without at the front line? Here’s “In the Quartermaster’s Stores” a humorous exploration that maybe the quartermaster just has bad eyesight. Young men feeling frightened at being so far from home? We have “Kiss Me Goodnight Sgt Major” asking the (presumably gruff) NCO fill in.

The marching tunes are filled with patriotic optimism. “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” and “There’ll Always Be an England” are prime examples, and these songs could double as marching tunes as well as a handy drunken sing-a-long for soldiers on leave needing to let off some steam.

There are times when this “what, me worry?” feel comes off as schmaltzy, with some singers laying on silly affectations a bit thick. Duo Flanagan and Allen are a couple of the worst offenders, but even their goofiness works once in a while (notably, “(We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing on the Siegfried Line)” even if this 1939 optimism was to be tragically disproved in the early years of the war.

What jumped out at me musically was how some of the specific artists were head and shoulders above their peers. Multiple Glenn Miller songs appear, and all of them were instantly recognizable. Miller was a force in this era, and his big band stylings are still as timeless and brilliant as they were when he recorded them eight decades ago.

The Andrews Sisters have many of the best songs on the record with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” the best of all. If that song doesn’t put joy in your heart, you should double check that you have one. Other standout Andrews Sisters tunes include “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and a duet with Bing Crosby titled “Don’t Fence Me In.”

Bing Crosby is no slouch solo either. He is one of the great vocalists of his or any time, and “San Antonio Rose” is a vocal masterpiece. Crosby practically converts mono to stereo through the richness of his tone alone.

And finally, if you want to feel all the feels, the record features a number of Vera Lynn tunes. “Yours” and “We’ll Meet Again” are the tear-jerkers of the record, laden with yearning and the heartbreak of lovers parted. “We’ll Meet Again” also doubles as another barroom sing-a-long, and features a bunch of folks singing along in unison for the latter half of the tune, underscoring this as an option for you, the listener.

I’m a military history buff, and I’ve read a LOT about the Second World War, but listening to this collection of songs from the era provided a new and more emotional way to interface with the era through its art. I didn’t love all the songs, but I did love the overall experience.  

Best tracks: Chatanooga Choo Choo – Glenn Miller; Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – Andrews Sisters; Yours – Vera Lynn; In the Mood – Glenn Miller; (We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing on the Siegfried Line – Flanagan and Allen; Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition – Kay Kyser and his Orchestra; San Antonio Rose – Bing Crosby; When the Light Comes on Again (All Over the World) – Vaughn Monroe; The White Cliffs of Dover – Vera Lynn; Don’t Fence Me In – Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters; Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree – Andrews Sisters; We’ll Meet Again – Vera Lynn

CD Odyssey Disc 1643: Bonny Light Horseman

My review was delayed this week as I was on the road. Taking full advantage, I made sure this next record was loaded and ready for listening as I navigated airports, hotels and the general “hurry up and wait” that is business travel.

Disc 1643 is…Rolling Golden Holy

Artist: Bonny Light Horseman

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Is it just me, or does this cover look board? Get it? Get it?

Man, I crack myself up.

How I Came To Know It: Bonny Light Horseman’s debut album (reviewed at Disc 1351) was my second favourite album of 2020 so I snapped the sequel up as soon as it came out.

How It Stacks Up: Bonny Light Horseman have two albums and as you can tell from the previous category, their debut is hard to beat. “Rolling Golden Holy” was not up to the task and falls to a distant (but still respectable) second place.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Like Bonny Light Horseman’s first album, “Rolling Golden Holy” is a chill laid-back collection of folk tunes, performed by a ‘super group’ trio. Super group by indie folk standards, anyway.

The record’s tempo could be called a mosey if it were more country in its flavour. Instead, it is more of a summer stroll down an overgrown road. Maybe an amble, even. Whatever the case, the songs aren’t in any hurry to get anywhere.

I primarily found this lack of urgency charming and agreeable. On “Gone By Fall” you have a soothing guitar picking pattern, and lyrics that capture love at is most accepting and ephemeral:

“Our love is fleeting, our love's flying away
It could last forever or could last a day
Out in the meadow and the shadows tall

“It might last the summer
Then be gone by fall”

Eric D. Johnson’s vocals on this song are stellar, a plaintive birdsong – the kind you hear a few trees away, made more sublime by all the air in between. Juxtaposed against this is Anais Mitchell’s thick, rich and rounded singing, equally beautiful. When they come together for a duet, as on “Exile” the effect is a soothing sway, like lying in a hammock in a gentle summer breeze.

“Someone to Weep Over Me” is the album’s best; is a tear-stained letter of a tune about a young man of no social consequence (he describes himself as being from “a long line of nobodies”). Our hero finds love in the song, but you can tell from the tone he’s not going to live through the conflict; it’s enough for him to be remembered, even if only fleetingly and by a single girl. The song captures the flair for character, and sparse and well-placed imagery that builds a whole world with a few phrases.

Mitchell’s touching vocals are well delivered on “Comrade Sweetheart” but the tune is a bit too balanced and lacks forward momentum. This is too bad because it wastes some of the record’s best musicianship in the process. Also, I found the use of ‘comrade’ a clunky term of endearment within the context of the song.

On songs like “Sweetbread” you can tell they want to jam out, gumboots at the farmer’s market style, but it doesn’t work and the song gets very busy without ever getting where it is going. On other songs, the band seems to fall in love with a phrase and to repeat it over and over again. The intent is to evoke a mood, but even a mood piece needs dynamics – musical or lyrical – to hold the listener’s attention.

The album ends on a high point, with “Cold Rain and Snow”. This song wouldn’t be much to write home about, except that the electric guitar work from the third member of our trio - Josh Kaufman – is just so damned brilliant. It isn’t fast or intricate, but the riff has a rich tone that could stretch for days. Kaufman’s vocals are overshadowed by his bandmates on the record as a whole, but ere the end he gets this well-deserved moment in the sunlight of the sublime.

My quibbles about “Rolling Golden Holy” are minor, and it’s biggest failing is that it can’t match the 5-star brilliance of the band’s debut. That kind of 5-star magic doesn’t come around often. On its own merits, this is a solid record and a worthy sophomore effort.

Best tracks: Exile, California, Gone by Fall, Someone to Weep for Me, Cold Rain and Snow

CD Odyssey Disc 1642: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Happy Mother’s Day! That’s for the mothers reading the blog. Non-mothers, this is just another Sunday for you. If you are lucky enough to have a mother and you love her, give her a call and tell her so.

My crazy work schedule next week means I won’t have time to write another review for a while. With this in mind I got up early today and just sat and listened to this next record so I could review it now and thus, dear reader, provide you the content you most assuredly crave.

Here you go…

Disc 1642 is…The Dirt and the Stars

Artist: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover?  Giant Head Cover alert! This is more of a Giant Hair Cover, as Mary Chapin Carpenter has turned away from the camera. Perhaps she was laughing about something, or maybe she had to sneeze. This album did come out during COVID so turning away to sneeze would have been very important.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter for decades, and this was just me buying her new album and hoping it was a good one.

How It Stacks Up: I have nine of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 16 albums (I only buy the ones I like). Of those nine, “The Dirt and the Stars” ranks at #9. Something had to be last.

Rating: 2 stars

Mary Chapin Carpenter has aged into her music a lot like Mark Knopfler, with each record feeling more and more laid back. On “The Dirt and the Stars” Carpenter is so chilled out you can imagine she sang the whole thing lying down.

At this stage of her career, Carpenter also shares something with Iron Maiden. Like them, she’s secure enough in her career that she makes her records as long and self-indulgent as she wishes, confident her fans will follow.

Which brings us to “The Dirt and the Stars,” which while only having 11 songs fills almost a full hour of music and seems in no hurry to resolve itself. Three songs clock in at around six minutes, and a fourth that goes north of seven. Unfortunately, in every case but one these songs would have benefited from a bit more judicious editing.

The worst of the bunch is “American Stooge” which tries to de-chill the album out midway through, with a bit of “Money for Nothing” style electric guitar. Unfortunately it never progresses musically and takes a long time not doing so. The piano noodling in the middle is particularly annoying.

Much better is Carpenter’s guitar work throughout. She takes on acoustic duties, and her light and relaxed plucking grounds the songs. My favourite song on the record is the opener, “Farther Along and Further In” which has that meandering songwriting quality that Carpenter does as well or better than anyone. Think of floating along a slow-moving river with a lot of bends, and no rapids. That’s “Farther Along and Further In”. I wish I could say the record had many others equally good but alas, it does not.

While the electric guitar is hit and miss, at the end of the record the title track partially redeems a lot of the previous decisions with a delightful and suitably restrained noodle. Think lesser version of the end of Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” or Blue Rodeo’s “Five Days in May” and you’ll have an idea. It makes the song completely unsuitable for radio of course, but when did that ever matter on this blog? Never, my friends.

Even though she was well into her sixties when she recorded this album, Carpenter’s voice and tone are as beautiful as ever. She has a low alto that is smooth as silk, and likely the reason I bought this record despite the songs not being as compelling as some of her other work. Hearing Carpenter sing is good for the soul.

But then I realized that I had eight other albums where I can hear her sing, and I like all those records better. And with that revelation, I made the easy decision to part with this record and send it along to a home where it will get more love and playtime than I can offer.

Best tracks: Farther Along and Further In

CD Odyssey Disc 1641 Abbie Gardner and a concert review!

Welcome to a 2 in 1 review extravaganza! Usually before I go see a live show I break CD Odyssey rules to listen to the artist’s last album so I can review it and the concert concurrently. On Wednesday night I saw Bonnie Prince Billy live, but his last solo studio album dates back to 2019 (“I Made a Place”) and I already reviewed it at Disc 1404. That was September 2020 and it was hard to see anyone live back then given that whole pandemic thing that was all the rage then.

Anyway, instead of reviewing the closest thing I’ve got (his 2021 collaboration with Matt Sweeney (“Superwolves”), I’m just going to tag that onto this review.

So come for Abbie Gardner album and stay for Bonnie Prince Billy concert. Or do the opposite. Whatever works for you. If it is the latter, you’ll have to scroll down a bit.

Disc 1641 is…Wishes on a Neon Sign

Artist: Abbie Gardner

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover?  Abbie Gardner out on the town! Interestingly, this is how I used to see neon before I got glasses.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Abbie Gardner through her 2022 album, “Dobro Singer”. This was me digging backward in her catalogue to see if I liked her other stuff. Turns out, I do.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Abbie Gardner albums, and if you are following along carefully, you already know which two. “Wishes on a Neon Sign” comes in second.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

I just discovered Abbie Gardner, but it turns out she’s been around for a while. Originally in a folk trio in the mid-oughts called Red Molly (which I don’t know but will explore) she then went solo and released a host of independent albums. That said, you could be forgiven thinking “Wishes on a Neon Sign” was early in her career. The record has a youthful enthusiasm (good) but it also struggles to find a signature sound of its own (not so good).

Gardner is known as a talented dobro player, and that is on full display throughout. Many songs feature dobro solos, which are solid but maybe a bit too restrained, and I found myself wishing for Gardner to cut loose Molly Tuttle-style. This is a bit unfair, as Gardner makes a conscious choice to play solos that are simple but laden with emotion, choosing tone over complexity. It’s a decision that many a heavy metal soloist could learn from.

The album tries out a lot of styles, with songs that feature bluegrass, blues, jazz and traditional country. Gardner doesn’t so much as blend all these styles as dabble in them from song to song.

Country tune “Wallflower Days” reminded me favourably of Suzie Bogguss, and while I liked it Bogguss has the more powerful set of chops for these kind of bright, internal rhyme traipsers. However, it is one of the better tunes nonetheless, with Gardner pitching real emotion and joy into her vocals.

At other times, such as on “Afraid of Love” Gardner opts for an early Billie Holiday style. She hits all the notes (many of these being far from easy), but it sounds a bit too much like she’s trying on the style as a vocal challenge, rather than embodying it.

Gardner is best when she strips all the stylistic experimentation away and just lets her solid songwriting and earnest delivery carry the day. “Cold Black Water” is a simple character study with earnest metaphor and an easy narrative that is buoyed by one of her strongest vocal performances.

Equally good is “My Darkness” which is a “don’t despair” tune. Instead of telling us to lighten up, it is about confronting your darkness, understanding it and even befriending it to the point that it loses its power. This song gives Gardner a chance to belt a little as well and you get to hear the easy power in her voice which on her “Holliday-lite” tunes is buried in affectation.

Overall, I liked this record, but I didn’t feel the emotional connection that I was looking for throughout. There are standouts for sure, and enough of them that I have no regrets with my purchase, but it left me wanting just a little bit more.

Fun fact: The first time I ordered an Abbie Gardner album from Bandcamp, she sent me a message promising me a gift, but all the arrived was the CD. The second time I ordered one, she promised nothing, but sent a nifty sticker! That sticker now adorns my much-decorated lunchbox. Thanks, Abbie!

Best tracks: Starting from Scratch, Cold Black Water, My Darkness

Bonnie Prince Billy in Concert – May 10, 2023 at the Capital Ballrom, Victoria BC

OK, ready for a concert review? Here we go!

Sheila and I arrived early at the Capital Ballroom which is critical if you want one of the coveted upstairs seats with a good view of the stage. Often those seats are a mixed blessing, as you spend half the night swatting people obstructing your view away from the railing who swarm in like wasps to a steak at a late summer barbecue.

None of that this time – just a couple of nice young women who found a spot beside us on the rail and never did the aggressive lean-in once.

So ensconced, we settled in for the show, ready to nurse our one order of overpriced drinks until the lights came on.

Patricia Wolf

The opening act was Patricia Wolf, although it took a while to figure that out. She came up on stage unannounced, said nothing and proceeded to futz with a couple of synthesizer/sound board things.

It was so directionless and ambient that I assumed she was a roadie getting something ready for later. With dawning horror we began to realize that this was the opening act, and the droning noise-scapes she was cranking out was her setlist!

This led me to my next mistake – which was assuming the headliner had no formal opener, and the club owner was just letting their sister or buddy or something have thirty minutes on the stage before a captive audience. But no, having later looked up who it was on the stage, and located her Bandcamp page, where it turns out Wolf has seven albums. I checked out the first one hoping that maybe she just was having a Bob Dylan moment and experimenting on the audience, but no such luck. The album sounded exactly the same. Joke's on me I guess, since she's obviously making a career of it.

I did something at that Wednesday show that I’m not proud of. Something that I never do. I talked to my friends (albeit quietly) through Wolf’s setlist. Incredibly rude of me, but for what its worth I was not alone. Apart from a smattering of claps from some seven or eight devotees in the front row, the whole room was doing the same.

Bonnie Prince Billy

As bad as that was, Bonnie Prince Billy (real name Will Oldham) more than made up for it. This was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in years.

Like Wolf, Oldham came up on the stage in an unassuming way. There was a single folding wooden chair and a mic, and he sat down, pulled his guitar out of his case, counted frets on where to put his capo just like us amateurs do and then launched into song.

Oldham is not a hit machine. His most famous song is “I See A Darkness” and that only because Johnny Cash covered it. Rather than saving it for the end of show it was the first thing he played, with a new arrangement that refreshed it in a way that was just as good as his original or Cash’ cover. It also quieted the crowd for the almost religious experience of what was to come next.

Oldham’s vocals are a high quaver, full of truth and raw emotion. At various times he would go into a semi-yodel, or a whistle, but only rarely. For the most part he holds your attention with that signature vocal, and compelling poetic lyrics. His style is more like Gordon Lightfoot, but his ability to turn a phrase is up there with Cohen and Dylan.

The Bonnie Prince had the crowd eating out of his hand early, with sing-a-longs that he would teach us on the fly and that the audience would joyfully sing out with little urging. One of the songs involved shooting folks in various body parts, which was both fun to sing and also conflicting and troubling, as a commentary on gun violence in America. It was just as Oldham intended us to feel, I am certain.

Some of his songs were so new they were not on any album, and a couple felt like he was still workshopping them, having to refer to his lyrics sheet from time to time. At an open mic night that sort of thing is enraging. Oldham somehow made it sublime.

Oldham has around twenty albums, and I only have my six favourites, so there were times when I recognized a song and times when it was completely new to me. His delivery draws you in so completely, both experiences were equally wonderful.

Among the songs I didn’t recognize, was one about his mom that brought tears to my eyes, and another comparing types of people to types of trees (willow, fir and oak, as it happens). I sat quietly under the spell of it all, along with the rest of the audience.

Notwithstanding their understandable reaction to the drone-opener, the audience was one of the better behaved ones I’ve been part of. Ever seen clips of sixties concerts where hippies sit in awe and listen to some dude in bright red suit sing folk tunes, with rapture on their faces? It was just like that, except the singer wore a trucker hat. Later he did glam it up a bit, smearing silver glitter under his eyes and remarking, “time for a costume change”). I don’t know why he did this, but I did like it.

This was a great show and I would happily see Bonnie Prince Billy live in concert again.

CD Odyssey Disc 1640: The Coup

I’m off to a late start today after staying up all night to watch King Charles III’s coronation. I’m a sucker for lavish ceremony, and the outfits alone made it worth the price of admission. In this case, that price was sleep deprivation.

I’m still a bit groggy but I’ve given this next album a full week in the car and despite how much I liked it, it is time to move on. Odyssey rules say I can’t do that until I write the review so…here you go!

Disc 1640 is…Genocide & Juice

Artist: The Coup

Year of Release: 1994

What’s up with the Cover?  The Coup hang out down at some dock. E-Roc appears to be pouring out a 40. Pam the Funkstress provides a “what the hell?” pose and Boots revels in the glory of being Boots.

How I Came To Know It: For the second straight album I had to resort to Amazon. Even there, this album wasn’t available for years so when a copy popped up on a search, I snatched it up before it was too late.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Coup albums, which, as it happens, is their entire career. I like all six, but since I’m here to make the hard choices, I’ll put “Genocide & Juice” in at #1. Yeah, you read that right. The best.

Rating: 4 stars

“Genocide & Juice” has that quality that is always a dead giveaway that I’m listening to a classic rap record, which is that it is hard to listen to while also writing about it. Typically, I steep one last time in an album as I write a review, but when the rhymes and flows are as compelling as they are on “Genocide & Juice” concentrating on your own words is a challenge. I turned the volume down a titch – a crime all its own – and was able to power through.

Later in their career, the Coup become funkier and funkier with danceable tunes and a radio-friendly groove. Early on, they are more likely to steer toward thought-provoking rhymes and innovative beats. Their talents for both are never better than on “Genocide & Juice”.

After the oft-included (but rarely welcome) “Intro” track from hip hop records of this era, the Coup get down to business with “Fat Cats, Bigga Fish” a song about the dog-eat-dog world they see in modern America and characters driven to crime through poverty. Our anti-hero of the song starts his day riding the bus with a stolen pass, before he begins taking a closer look at how he’s managing:

“The streetlight reflects off the piss on the ground
Which reflects off the hamburger sign, it turns round
Which reflects off the chrome of the BMW
Which reflects off the fact that I'm broke, now what the fuck is new?”

Images that conjure sight, sound and even smell – if you’re lucky the latter being the hamburger.

“Pimps” uses a free style “rounds” approach, as members of the band take turns making fun of the accents of the rich, before dropping some innovative and compelling raps. Full kudos if this was done free-style as advertised, because it is great. My only disappointment was the references to Donald Trump, which have aged awkwardly given events of more recent years. The band’s hilariously put-on “upper class twit” accents between verses makes even this forgivable, however.

The beats on this record are harbinger of the truly funky stuff that will come later. Here, the lyrics are forward in the mix, but there is no denying those back-loosening beats on “Gunsmoke”, “Hard Concrete” and many others.

While I like a lot of Coup albums equally, the song that puts “Genocide & Juice” over the top is “Repo Man”. Telling the tale of a Repo Man cruising through the neighbourhood, repossessing cars and property from folks making a marginal living. Just as they do, throughout the record, the Coup paint a clear picture of another of the ‘hood’s recurring characters:

“Seen him slidin' through the town about eleven o'clock
A 1994 850 and the tires were stock
He'll make a visit to your house like without no knock
And if you pulls out a pole it wouldn't be no shock
I gives a fuck how much you bench press, if you ain't pushin' up
That twenty-five percent interest, your property gets chin checked”

On top of the great imagery, this is the Coup’s funkiest tune which is saying a LOT, because this band is damned funky, and the albums that follow this one just keep raising the bar. Nothing beats “Repo Man” though, and ultimately nothing beats “Genocide & Juice” either. It is a rap classic.

Best tracks: Fat Cats, Bigga Fish, Pimps, Gunsmoke, Hard Concrete, Repo Man, Interrogation