I think this album is genius, and I think the following review from Rolling Stone nails it perfectly... except for the 1-star rating, that is."Virginia's Royal Trux mix bad Company biker blues, Southern rock, synthesized AM drivel and arty college experimentation like an underage bar goer mixes drinks: slamming 'em down till they come back up as regurgitated sonic swill. Combine that with a trailer-trash-chic image – skintight bell-bottoms, cowboy boots and whiskey-warped expressions – and you have an underclass shtick that has made the Trux underground faves.
On their sixth underproduced album and second major-label release (yet another indie band signed in Nirvana's wake), singer Jennifer Herrema works hard at sounding trashy, slurring lyrics in a raspy tone a la Nazareth. She hisses ultranasty lines like "Sweet 16 and never been clean" alongside guitarist and vocalist Neil Hagerty's own thin warble. Indulgent wah-wah guitar solos bump into disjointed drum beats.
Every song on Sweet Sixteen eventually lapses into a meandering mess, even on tunes where the Trux attempt to mimic Zeppelin's repetitive rhythms or the Allman Brothers' jams. Instead of respecting the music they bastardize, the Trux treat it as low art, approaching '70s rock like a cocky adult playing a kids' game. By mid-album, you begin to wish Lynyrd Skynyrd had crashed this recording session and kicked the Trux's pretentious asses into some sort of cohesive groove." (RS 757)
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4 comments:
Thanks, I think this the only RTX record that I hadn't heard yet. Great album and great cover.
A million thanks for this post. This record is terribly underrated and I've been searching high and low for it. In time I hope Royal Trux's mid to late period work will be reevaluated and appreciated. It's solid work.
Had to order this from Amazon since I couldn't find it anywhere else. It is extremely in-accessible, noisy, and messy, yet very catchy and enjoyable after it has been given time to be digested. Would definitely rank this as one of their better efforts
Is there anyway this can be uploaded again, please ? The links are dead D: I'm always late w/ these kind of things !
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