Gary Lucas and Gods & Monsters - Coming Clean (Side Salad)
2/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Sure, the sticker on the cover is a little bit imposing, and it covers most of the artwork, but this doesn't particularly matter for a couple of reasons. One - the artwork is pretty shoddy. Two - if it weren't for the names on that sticker, you probably wouldn't bother picking up this CD in the first instance. Gary Lucas, who the sticker helpfully points out was a member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band for a time ('Doc At The Radar Station', 'Ice Cream For Crow' - both marvellous records) and played and composed with Jeff Buckley ('Mojo Pin' and 'Grace' being two classic examples of his co-writing), is at the helm. But it's guest contributions from the likes of the New York Dolls' David Johansen and the fact that Billy Ficca from Television is on drums all the way through that'll have you mulling over the idea that this might actually be quite an interesting record.
And it is. The first track alone, 'One Man's Meat', suggests that it might also be an incredible record - the form which Johansen found on last year's reformed NYD recordings not deserting him here, no siree. He sounds fantastic, and so do the band - Ficca's oddly soft and jazzy drumming making a fascinating backdrop for this brass filled and riff led piece of rawk, so played that spelling the word there with an 'aw' instead of an 'oc' is entirely appropriate. Disappointingly, it's the only moment of true intrigue, excitement or grit.
The rest we could count as showboating. Take 'Psycho', the following effort - on it we have Lucas providing two minutes of controlled guitar shredding, like someone desperately trying to sound relevant to a generation who, it's true, don't spend enough time praising his earlier work. The 'Psycho' theme continues, as the title track has Gary Lucas menacingly whispering in a half erotic, half psychotic way, like Frank Black does so well on his solo records, except here it all sounds a little more Dire Straits than The Catholics. Despite the technical flair of the playing, it comes across as a little soulless - the collaborations not adding to the overall effect of 'Coming Clean' as whole at all, but instead taking away from whatever singular vision Lucas had for the project in the first place, that's if there was a vision beyond 'let's get all these cool names to give me an ego boost'. It certainly worked in that sense - I'm here listening to the record, after all.
Everything that's pretty goes on just that little bit to long - 'Evangeline' for example, whilst haunting for the first two minutes, has no need to go on for another 1'20". The pretty but inconsequential 'Follow', too, has no need to even stretch to the hardly epic three minutes and eleven seconds of my time that it does. You think Johansen's presence might have injected a little punk rock economics in to the project, but bar that impeccable first track, it's not been that way.
If only there were more things like 'Fata Morgana', where Lucas could demonstrate his fantastic guitar playing on songs that actually had some worth other than that provided by the names who guest on them - the slide and picking on this track is frankly marvellous, though because he's American, he should of course be one of the people in the English speaking world who are banned from using the phrase 'stupid bloody wanker'. 'Skin Diving' pleases also, and rescues the record in its middle - it's a lovely collaboration with Stinky Toys' Elli Medeiros, where her seductive vocals and Lucas's twinkling, eerily screeching guitar work are allowed just the room they need to shine. The following 'Spirit Moves' is a highlight too, it's playfulness wholly necessary in this setting, that being a record which doesn't demonstrate often enough that it knows how to have a good time rather than merely play it by the book.
It doesn't help that on 'Coming Clean' at least, Lucas's voice doesn't seem up to much. This is evidenced best on his take on Jeff Buckley's 'Mojo Pin', a song you'll remember he co-wrote, though his version of Bruce Springsteen's 'Ain't Got You' fairs little better, failing to realise that the song's about under confidence and longing and where instead we have Lucas turning it into something brash and full of itself. Signing off with a final, bonus track run through of Gazza guesting live on Alabama Three's signature song 'Woke Up This Morning' confirms suspicions that the project is an ego boosting rally round of famous friends on Lucas's behalf. And with a sticker like the one on the cover, and an opening track like 'One Man's Meat', we hoped for so much more.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment