Artist - Beasts of Bourbon
Album - Little Animals
Label - Alberts
Some rock music is written from the head, some from the heart, and some from a bit further south...
The Beasts of Bourbon are an Aussie band, formed in 1983 and revived in various 'Aussie supergroup' incarnations since, by Tex Perkins, a singer who makes QoTSA's Mark Lanegan sound like Aled Jones.
Like the Rolling Stones with the dirt turned up to 11, or, as one German magazine once said, like Muddy Waters on crack, the Beasts have a wonderful legacy of swamp punk blues records.
Little Animals is no exception - it has a vitality and aggression in its heavy riffs and straightahead rock that makes it utterly compelling. Like Queens of the Stone Age's Songs For The Deaf played at two in the morning by the Stooges after a heavy evening on the sour mash, Little Animals makes no excuses for its grungey guitar attack.
Where the Beasts have always differed from similar sounding bands is that there are great songs underneath - like the Stones' late 60s singles (and their unreleased Sucker Blues), they have an immediate appeal that only improves on further listening.
Rating 9/10
Mike Rea
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