The Gun Club | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Tribal psychobilly blues is the best way to describe the Gun Clubs energetic death rock, but the bands career seemed doomed from the get-go due to leader Jeffrey Lee Pierces reputation as an unreliable wildman, and well-publicized bouts of drunkenness dogged him throughout his career. Formed in Los Angeles in the early 80s, the band was vaguely aligned with similarly roots-inspired groups like X and the Blasters, but later picked up and relocated to the Lower East Side, resting more comfortably around the New York downtown set and Pierces mentors, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. Their 1981 debut, Fire of Love, was a punk-blues hybrid -- intense energy fueled Pierces exorcism-in-progress delivery and the bands (Ward Dotson, guitar; Rob Ritter, bass; and Terry Graham, drums) frenetic style. Released in 1982, Miami had the band allied with Blondies Stein at the boards. Pierce had once been the president of Blondies U.S. fan club, which sparked the liaison. The 1985 EP Death Party is a swingin piece of punkabilly with Dee Pop on drums and Jim Duckworth of Panther Burns on guitar. For Las Vegas Story in 1984, the Club won over guitarist Kid Congo Powers from the Cramps and Patricia Morrison (the Bags) on bass, and it looked as if that was that when -- save for some live recordings and posthumous releases -- Pierce launched his solo career in 1985 with the EP Flamingo and the Wildweed album for the Statick label. But it wasnt quite over; in 1987 Pierce came back with a realigned Club and the album Mother Juno (Fundamental), which earned them a wider following than ever. In 1996, after drying out, but suffering from persistent health problems, Pierce passed away from a brain hemorrhage. Morrison went on to play with the Sisters of Mercy, Powers in his own lounge group, and Dotson formed the Pontiac Brothers. An album featuring the Gun Club in concert, Larger Than Live!, appeared from Last Call Records in 2008. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 17 Title: Fire of Love Released: 1981 Tracks: 11 Duration: 40:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Sex Beat (02:47) 2 Preaching the Blues (04:00) 3 Promise Me (02:37) 4 She’s Like Heroin to Me (02:36) 5 For the Love of Ivy (05:36) 6 Fire Spirit (02:52) 7 Ghost on the Highway (02:46) 8 Jack on Fire (04:44) 9 Black Train (02:12) 10 Cool Drink of Water (06:18) 11 Goodbye Johnny (03:43) |
| Fire of Love : Allmusic album Review : The Gun Clubs debut is the watermark for all post-punk roots music. This features the late Jeffrey Lee Pierces swamped-out brand of roiling rock, swaggerific hell-bound blues, and gothic country. With Pierces wailing high lonesome slide guitar twinned with Ward Dotsons spine-shaking riffs and the solid yet off-the-rails rhythm section of bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham, the Gun Club burst out of L.A. in the early 80s with a bone to pick and a mountain to move -- and they accomplished both on their debut album. With awesome, stripped to the frame production by the Flesh Eaters Chris D., Fire of Love blew away all expectations -- and with good reason. Nobody has heard music like this before or since. Pierces songs were rooted in his land of Texas. On "Sex Beat," a razor-sharp country one-two shuffle becomes a howling wind as Pierces wasted, half-sung half-howled vocals relate a tale of voodoo, sex, dope, and death. The song choogles like a freight train coming undone in a twister. Here Black Flag, the Sex Pistols, Son House, and the coughing, hacking rambling ghost of Hank Williams all converge in a reckless mass of seething energy and nearly evil intent. As if the opener werent enough of a jolt, the Gun Club follow this with a careening version of Houses "Preachin the Blues," full of staccato phrasing and blazing slide. But it isnt until the anthemic, opiate-addled country of "Shes Like Heroin to Me" and the truly frightening punk-blues of "Ghost on the Highway" that the listener comes to grip with the awesome terror that is the Gun Club. The songs become rock & roll ciphers, erasing themselves as soon as they speak, heading off into the whirlwind of a storm that is so big, so black, and so awful one cannot meditate on anything but its power. Fire of Love may be just what the doctor ordered, but to cure or kill is anybodys guess. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 17 Title: Miami Released: 1982 Tracks: 12 Duration: 40:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Carry Home (03:15) 2 Like Calling Up Thunder (02:30) 3 Brother and Sister (03:00) 4 Run Through the Jungle (04:11) 5 A Devil in the Woods (03:07) 6 Texas Serenade (04:45) 7 Watermelon Man (04:08) 8 Bad Indian (02:38) 9 John Hardy (03:25) 10 The Fire of Love (02:10) 11 Sleeping in Blood City (03:30) 12 Mother of Earth (03:23) |
| Miami : Allmusic album Review : The sophomore record by the Gun Club bore the curse of having to follow a monolith of their own making. Fire of Love sold extremely well for an independent; it was a favorite of virtually every critic who heard it in 1981. Miami showcased a different lineup as well. Ward Dotson replaced Congo Powers (temporarily, at least) on guitar, and there were a ton of guest performances, including Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. Stein produced the album. Off the bat the disc suffers from a thin mix. Going for a rougher sound, Stein left the instruments at one level and boosted Pierces vocal. There is plenty of guitar here, screaming and moping like a drunken orphan from the Texas flatlands, but next to its predecessor it sounds drier and reedier. Ultimately it hardly matters. Going for a higher, more desolate sound, frontman and slide player Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his band were literally on fire. The songs here, from "Carry Home," "Like Calling Up Thunder," "Devil in the Woods," "Watermelon Man," "Bad Indian," and "Texas Serenade," among others, centered themselves on a mutant form of country music that met the post-punk ethos in the desert, fought and bloodied each other, and decided to stay together. This is hardcore snake-charming music (as in water moccasins not cobras), evil, smoky, brash, and libidinally uttered. Their spooky version of an already creepy tune by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Run Through the Jungle" runs the gamut from sexual nightmare to voodoo ritual gone awry. Finally, Pierce and company pull out all the roots and reveal them for what they are: "John Hardy," is a squalling punk-blues, with the heart of the country in cardiac arrest. Dotson proved to be a fine replacement for Congo Powers, in that his style was pure Telecaster country (à la James Burton) revved by the Rolling Stones and Johnny Thunders. Miami was given a rough go when it was issued for its production. But in the birds-eye view of history its songs stack up, track for track, with Fire of Love and continue to echo well into this long good night. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 17 Title: The Birth, the Death, the Ghost Released: 1984 Tracks: 13 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bo Diddleys a Gunslinger (?) 2 Railroad Bill (?) 3 Seven Miles With the Devil (?) 4 Preachin Blues (?) 5 Goodbye Johnny (?) 6 Black Train (?) 7 Walking With the Beast (?) 8 Bad Mood (?) 9 Not That Much (?) 10 Going Down the Red River (?) 11 Willie Brown (?) 12 Field Holler (?) 13 Sex Beat (?) |
| The Birth, the Death, the Ghost : Allmusic album Review : The first of two live Gun Club collections released in 1984, The Birth the Death the Ghost is also the better of the pair; recorded with guitarist Kid Congo Powers, back in the fold after a tenure with the Cramps, the set focuses on recently released material, and includes a number of otherwise unissued compositions as well. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 17 Title: The Las Vegas Story Released: 1984 Tracks: 10 Duration: 36:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Las Vegas Story (00:23) 2 Walkin’ With the Beast (04:34) 3 Eternally Is Here (03:01) 4 The Stranger in Our Town (05:12) 5 My Dreams (04:03) 6 The Master Plan (01:49) 7 My Man’s Gone Now (03:19) 8 Bad America (04:59) 9 Moonlight Motel (03:11) 10 Give Up the Sun (06:03) |
| The Las Vegas Story : Allmusic album Review : The tragedy of the Gun Clubs third album, The Las Vegas Story, is that it was largely ignored by both critics and fans due to the mixing and mastering disaster that marred its predecessor, Miami -- an album that was full of great songs and performances but was so marred by poor sound that it sounded lifeless. Both records were issued by Chris Steins Animal label. The Las Vegas Story was produced by Jeff Eyrich who was just coming off T-Bone Burnetts Proof Through the Night project and was about to enter the studio with both the Plimsouls and Thin White Rope. Its lineup features the return of original guitarist Kid Congo Powers, as well as drummer Terry Graham and new bassist Patricia Morrison (aka Pat Bag) from L.A. punk outfit the Bags. Late frontman /guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce was writing feverish rock & roll songs that took their inspiration from Southern blues and West Texas country music all framed by an angular, jagged post-punk energy. The screaming rawness at the heart of the bands debut, Fire of Love, had been replaced by a dry, moaning lonesome, percussion heavy desert sound, space and echo float through the mix like a ghost through Pierces slide guitar playing. Bass drum and tom-toms fuel the attack with a basic, primitive nocturnal energy. Topics ranged from personal disintegration in "Walkin with the Beast," and the country-blues-drenched "Eternally Is Here," and the shambolic, two-step country confusion of "My Dreams" that quotes directly from Televisions "Marquee Moon" to the disappearance of the nation in "Bad America"s edgy guitar wrangle. There are a couple of covers on the set tossed right in the center of the album: "The Master Plan," a spooky, brooding, rock read of Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas "The Creator Has a Master Plan," and a slovenly, funereal version of "My Mans Gone Now," by George and Ira Gershwin from Porgy and Bess. The Las Vegas Story is a provocative record that reveals the Gun Club was pulled in many directions at once, and though the tension is in evidence on every track, it nonetheless holds together. After Fire of Love, The Las Vegas Story is their most satisfying album and is, perhaps, the bands most visionary offering. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 17 Title: Two Sides of the Beast Released: 1985 Tracks: 13 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Walkin With the Beast (?) 2 Like Calling Up Thunder (?) 3 Mother of Earth (?) 4 Run Through the Jungle (?) 5 Eternally Is Here (?) 6 Las Vegas Story (?) 7 Death Party (12" version) (?) 8 Seven Miles With the Devil (live) (?) 9 Bo Diddleys a Gunslinger (live) (?) 10 Preaching Blues (live) (?) 11 Goodbye Johnny (live) (?) 12 Going Down to the Red River (live) (?) 13 Sex Beat (live) (?) |
| Two Sides of the Beast : Allmusic album Review : Another stopgap collection released during one of the Gun Clubs frequent dissolutions, Two Sides of the Beast is a double-LP set spanning both studio and live material. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 17 Title: Danse Kalinda Boom Released: 1985 Tracks: 21 Duration: 1:52:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Eternity Is Here (03:32) 2 Bad America (04:59) 3 Stranger In Town (05:16) 4 Gila Monster, New Mexico / Preaching Blues (09:49) 5 Sleeping In Blood City (03:48) 6 Goodbye Johnny (05:59) 7 Give Up The Sun (05:57) 1 Strange Fruit (04:47) 2 Moonlight Motel (03:20) 3 Run Through the Jungle (07:17) 4 Brother & Sister (03:32) 5 House of the Highland Avenue (03:31) 6 Cool Drink of Water (07:15) 7 The Lie (03:14) 8 Fire of Love (02:37) 9 Kangaroo Farm Disco (Death Party) (06:45) 10 Jack on Fire (07:44) 11 Sex Beat (02:31) 12 For the Love of Ivy (08:34) 13 Love Supreme (09:30) 14 Hello Walls (02:19) |
| Danse Kalinda Boom : Allmusic album Review : Recorded in 1983, Danse Kalinda Boom: Live in Pandoras Box suffers from abysmal sound quality, although the performances are electric; Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers sound like men possessed on scorching readings of "Sleeping in Blood City" and a cover of Robert Johnsons "Preaching the Blues." | ||
 | Album: 7 of 17 Title: Death Party Released: 1987 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:12:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bad Indian (02:49) 2 She’s Like Heroin to Me (03:08) 3 Keys to the Kingdom (02:53) 4 Jack on Fire (05:03) 5 Railroad Bill (01:50) 6 Sex Beat (02:12) 7 Devil in the Woods (02:55) 8 Goodbye Johnny (03:00) 9 Preaching the Blues (04:40) 10 Watermelon Man (03:17) 11 Black Train (02:41) 12 Promise Me (02:34) 13 Lost Highway (03:48) 14 Fire of Love (02:29) 15 Death Party (04:33) 16 For the Love of Ivy (06:45) 17 Walking the Beast (04:22) 18 Love Supreme (10:23) 19 Bol Weevil Man (02:36) |
| Death Party : Allmusic album Review : Gun Clubs Death Party EP was issued in 1983 between the mixing and mastering disaster that was Miami, the bands second album, and the nearly sublime Las Vegas Story. The recording also features a new and extremely short-lived lineup that featured guitarist Jim Duckworth (Panther Burns), drummer Dee Pop (Bush Tetras), a friend of his on bass named Jimmy Joe Uliana, and Pierces then girlfriend Linda "Texacala" Jones on backing vocals. The five tracks could have been outtakes from Miami, powerful, dark rock of disillusionment, drug abuse, and warped sexuality. The playing here is somewhat pedestrian though certainly able. The pathos on the Gun Clubs best records is missing here, but the quality of the songwriting makes up for it some. Certainly fans will want this. [In 2004, Sympathy for the Record Industry reissued the EP on compact disc with seven bonus tracks from a live performance on Radio Geneva. Whats notable about it is Pierces between-song banter, which is entertaining, snotty, and obviously intoxicated, and he plays piano on every tune. This gig is also the first recorded performance of bassist Patricia Morrison (aka Pat Bag from the L.A. punk quartet the Bags) with the band. (She would remain for years before leaving to join the Sisters of Mercy.) The material from the radio gig contains three tunes from Death Party, covers of "Run Through the Jungle" the old roots rock nugget "Heebie Jeebies," and Lewis Allans "Strange Fruit," as well as a scorching rendition of "Fire of Love."] | ||
 | Album: 8 of 17 Title: Mother Juno Released: 1987 Tracks: 9 Duration: 36:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bill Bailey (03:42) 2 Thunderhead (03:31) 3 Lupita Screams (03:16) 4 Yellow Eyes (06:31) 5 The Breaking Hands (04:12) 6 Araby (03:04) 7 Hearts (04:02) 8 My Cousin Kim (02:47) 9 Port of Souls (04:53) |
| Mother Juno : Allmusic album Review : The Gun Club collapsed within a year of the release of 1984s The Las Vegas Story, so more than a few fans were surprised in 1987 when Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers returned with a new version of the band, featuring Romi Mori (Pierces significant other) on bass and Nick Sanderson (ex-Clock DVA) on drums. Even more startling was that the groups comeback album, Mother Juno, was produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, who would hardly have seemed a likely choice to channel the Gun Clubs fiery blues-punk assault onto vinyl. But against the odds, Mother Juno turned out to be one of the bands best albums; the hard rock overtones of The Las Vegas Story were replaced by a more direct, streamlined sound that suggested Miami without the twangy undertow, and while "Bill Bailey" and "Thunderhead" proved this band could rock as hard as they ever had before, Pierces songs were also venturing into new musical territory, as evidenced by the slow, slinky R&B; of "Yellow Eyes," the atmospheric carnival-pop of "The Breaking Hands," and the contemplative "Port of Souls." And as a vocalist, Pierces trademark just-off-pitch style had gained no small amount of nuance in the six years since Fire of Love, and whether hes shouting the blues or crooning sadly, Pierce shows hed moved into a whole new class as a singer. Sadly, Mother Juno didnt earn a United States release until the 1990s, which is a shame; it not only made clear that the Gun Club were still alive and kicking, it showed they had lost none of their old power as they cleared out some new territory in the process. Buddhas 2000 reissue adds two solid bonus tracks, the scrappy "Crab Dance" and the moody "Nobodys City." | ||
 | Album: 9 of 17 Title: Pastoral Hide and Seek Released: 1990 Tracks: 10 Duration: 41:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Humanesque (03:17) 2 The Straits of Love and Hate (04:17) 3 Emilys Changed (03:13) 4 I Hear Your Heart Singing (03:55) 5 St Johns Divine (04:25) 6 The Great Divide (03:10) 7 Another Countrys Young (05:04) 8 Flowing (04:52) 9 Temptation and I (04:25) 10 Eskimo Blue Day (05:17) |
 | Album: 10 of 17 Title: Divinity Released: 1991 Tracks: 8 Duration: 34:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sorrow Knows (07:00) 2 Richard Speck (02:10) 3 Keys to the Kingdom (03:15) 4 Black Hole (02:16) 5 St. Johns Divine [remix] (04:27) 6 Yellow Eyes (live) (08:51) 7 Hearts (live) (03:44) 8 Fire of Love (live) (02:14) |
| Divinity : Allmusic album Review : Noisy and intricate, Divinity ranks among the Gun Clubs most ambitious efforts; however, the dissonant production often tends to muddy Jeffrey Lee Pierces songs, which, conversely, are some of his most simple and straightforward. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 17 Title: In Exile Released: 1992 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:15:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Breaking Hands (04:16) 2 Thunderhead (03:31) 3 Lupita Screams (03:16) 4 Yellow Eyes (06:34) 5 Hearts (04:02) 6 Port of Souls (04:51) 7 Pastoral, Hide and Seek (03:56) 8 The Straits of Love & Hate (04:19) 9 Emilys Changed (03:13) 10 I Hear Your Heart Singing (03:58) 11 St. Johns Divine (remix) (04:27) 12 Another Countrys Young (05:04) 13 Flowing (04:52) 14 Temptation & I (04:26) 15 Richard Speck (02:10) 16 Keys to the Kingdom (03:19) 17 Black Hole (02:16) 18 Sorrow Knows (07:00) |
| In Exile : Allmusic album Review : In Exile compiles the majority of the Gun Clubs Mother Juno and Pastoral Hide and Seek albums, and tracks from the mini-album Divinity. There is one bonus track included, the title track for Pastoral Hide and Seek that was never previously released because of an argument about the mix. What these recordings offer is a view of a band that everybody -- in America at least -- had given up on. Given the bands wildly erratic live performances and Jeffrey Lee Pierces struggles with both heroin and alcohol that led to his premature death in 1996, every track goes against the grain of who they had been and who they were expected to be. Pierce had more than enough creativity and fire in him as a songwriter, and the band had the personnel -- with Romi Mori on bass, Congo Powers back on guitar, and former Cramps drummer Nick Sanderson -- to do anything they wanted. But what was it they wanted to do? On the tracks from Mother Juno, such as "These Breaking Hands," "Lupita Screams," and "Yellow Eyes," there is the influence of the Cocteau Twins, of all bands, with Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde lending production help. The bluesy aspect of the bands former sound remains intact, but theyre no longer played with bowl-you-over intensity. Pierce had grown enough as a songwriter to know that that sound had its limits if the Gun Club were to remain a functioning entity. But he couldnt quite become the ballad singer he wanted to be in the context of the Gun Club either. The tension heard in the Mother Juno material, the bands most criminally underappreciated album, bears witness. For Pastoral Hide and Seek, the Gun Club was all over the map. Theres the roaring, stormy squall of "The Straits of Love and Hate," with burning, broken chords and burnouts on stun-bass riffs. But theres also the neo-goth country of "I Hear Your Heart Singing," with the most drunken vocal Pierce ever consciously recorded. And then theres the material from Divinity, with its creepy Velvets-like tribute to serial killer Richard Speck and the warped metallic blues of "Black Hole." Every one of these tracks is done with sincerity, and each of them is done with a schizophrenic pathos that pulls in too many directions to properly focus the material. As a collection this works far better, with the material all jammed together, than these tracks did on individual albums. On record they were always good, if not great. Live was another story and they ran to extremes, but even this late they remained one of the most compelling bands to listen to; theyd make you scratch your head one minute and yell, "yeahhhhhhh motherf*cker!!!!!!!," the next. How many bands can you say that about? | ||
 | Album: 12 of 17 Title: Ahmeds Wild Dream Released: 1992 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:12:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 (The Creator Was A) Master Plan (01:18) 2 Walkin With the Beast (04:20) 3 I Hear Your Soul Singin (03:49) 4 Another Country Young (05:53) 5 Sexbeat (03:04) 6 Lupita Screams (03:26) 7 Go Tell the Mountain (07:50) 8 Preachin The Blues (06:12) 9 Stranger in a Town (05:20) 10 Good bye Johnny (07:15) 11 Port of Soul (05:30) 12 Black Hole (04:15) 13 Little Wing (04:37) 14 Yellow Eyes (10:00) |
| Ahmed's Wild Dream : Allmusic album Review : Originally released in 1993, less than three years before frontman Jeffrey Lee Pierces drug-related death, AHMEDS WILD DREAM is a live album of songs spanning the entirety of the Gun Clubs career. Perhaps the first band to synthesize blues with post-punk, the Gun Club are the spiritual fathers of the White Stripes, the Black Keys, and many other indie rockers of the new century, and their sole live album is an essential document of their primal power. This 2008 reissue adds two demo recordings, "Humanesque" and "Pastoral Hide and Seek." | ||
 | Album: 13 of 17 Title: Lucky Jim Released: 1993-09-10 Tracks: 11 Duration: 53:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Lucky Jim (03:44) 2 A House Is Not a Home (04:04) 3 Cry to Me (05:56) 4 Kamata Hollywood City (05:09) 5 Ride (03:57) 6 Blue Monsoons (02:53) 7 Idiot Waltz (06:45) 8 Up Above the World (04:50) 9 Day Turn the Night (02:56) 10 Desire (05:10) 11 Anger Blues (07:45) |
| Lucky Jim : Allmusic album Review : The final Gun Club album, Lucky Jim was released in 1994, less than two years before frontman Jeffrey Lee Pierces death at the age of 37 from complications due to liver disease. Pierce was a wasted, hollow-eyed ghost when he and the last incarnation of the Gun Club convened in Holland. Haunted from a trip to South Vietnam and Cambodia, Pierce wrote 11 new songs for the sessions and forged ahead despite the departure of longtime mate and fellow guitar slinger Kid Congo Powers, who left to concentrate on his own band, Congo-Norvell. With Pierce handling all the guitar chores, theres more overdubbing than there would normally be on a GC disc, but thats not of consequence. Perhaps the most telling track on the album is "A House Is Not a Home," an electric scorcher with Pierce telling his, and his bands, life story; by the end they were a band without a country, dismissed in America and met with indifference everywhere else except in the Netherlands. Pierce expresses his agony vocally, wailing above the guitar storm, riffing and stinging the center of the melody with razored blues fills and the odd James Burton lick. Much of the rest of the disc is nocturnal, including the odd lounge-y blues shuffle of "Cry to Me," with Pierce doing his very best Albert Collins in the intro. There is tenderness in all the pain on Lucky Jim; its as if Pierce had accepted that this was always going to be his lot, and knew that much of the struggle was his own fault. The years of substance abuse hadnt taken his fire away, but had turned him inward. For instance, on the burning, Hendrix-drenched "Ride," the guitars flail in open E and chunk against each other, chord for chord, yet the singer is begging for the sensual pleasures of a woman on the street, unashamed and unabashed. The acoustic sensitivity of "Idiot Waltz" is a forlorn country ballad, stretched taut by a lyric so full of desolation the singer almost disappears underneath its weight. The "Machine Gun" riff that is the foundation of the vehicle for drummer Nick Sanderson and Pierce, "Up Above the World," blazes with shimmering souled-out rock & roll pathos. The set closes with "Anger Blues," the purest take on this genre the Gun Club ever recorded. The grain in Pierces voice is an erasure, a ghost, a hunted soul who has nothing left to lose but the very thing that keeps him alive and simultaneously destroys him. As Pierce slashes out Texas blues riffs and single-string flurries, he longs for a kind of life that he knows isnt available to him, a present future free of rage. His solo is among the most expressive and genuinely engaging that he ever played, digging deep into the tradition for its mud, sweat, and bone in order to tie himself to his origins in perpetuity. Its a roar and a final gasp, kissed by Bart van Poppels Hammond B-3, and drenched in sorrow and resignation. Pierce may be gone, but this final disc proves he hadnt lost a bit of his own gift for songwriting or playing the guitar, and that the Gun Club was more than capable of surprising even the most jaded of cynics. Lucky Jim, it turns out, didnt just signify the passage of a man, but the disappearance of the only real American rock band left in the world. Rest easy Jeffrey Lee, and thanks for the music. | ||
 | Album: 14 of 17 Title: Early Warning Released: 1997 Tracks: 35 Duration: 2:03:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Goodbye Johnny (03:13) 2 Preaching the Blues (04:34) 3 Watermelon Man (03:23) 4 Devil in the Woods (02:53) 5 Fire of Love (01:56) 6 Ghost on the Highway (02:55) 7 Walkin With the Beast (04:28) 8 I Hear Your Heart Singing (03:12) 9 Devil in the Woods (03:05) 10 Goodbye Johnny (03:50) 11 For the Love of Ivy (07:31) 12 Bad Indian (02:45) 13 Strange Fruit (01:42) 14 Fire Spirit (03:21) 15 Carry Home (03:18) 16 Preaching the Blues (05:30) 17 Sex Beat (02:54) 18 Jack on Fire (04:40) 1 Promise Me (03:29) 2 Treat Your Train Right (03:32) 3 Cool Drink of Water Blues (05:49) 4 Devil in the Woods (04:12) 5 Goodbye Johnny (03:36) 6 Gonna Find My Baby (02:13) 7 Desire by Blue River (04:44) 8 The Devil & The Nigger (03:24) 9 An American Promise (03:57) 10 Im on This Rocket (01:31) 11 Your Mans Feelin Low (02:20) 12 John Henry (02:08) 13 Blackjack Davey (02:50) 14 Waiting (01:40) 15 Hey Baby (01:23) 16 Hey Madame (04:00) 17 Interview (07:24) |
| Early Warning : Allmusic album Review : Just like a classic noir crime novel, L.A.s Gun Club absorbed and spit out the glitz, glamour, filth, and blood of the citys underbelly, and crafted it into something beautiful and haunting. Early Warning, a double-disc set comprising demo tracks, live cuts, and Jeffrey Lee Pierces home acoustic recordings, is a magnificently assembled bound, riveted, limited edition booklet (with jackets for both discs) filled with extensive liner notes and photos. In their heyday -- as represented on this collection, the Gun Club were an amalgam of Delta blues, rockabilly, and punk sung with degenerate earnestness by the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who died in 1996 from a stroke, the final effect of decades of hard, reckless living. As evidenced on disc one, the Gun Club read the blues in a raw, visceral, twisted punk rock manner, but still maintained the integrity of the original form. Disc two is a portrait of Pierce alone with his guitar, stitching together a quilt of desperation, loneliness, drug addiction, sex, death, and life on the American road. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 17 Title: Larger Than Live Released: 2006 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:18:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Give Up the Sun (06:15) 2 I Hear Your Heart Singing (04:00) 3 The Straits of Love & Hate (04:41) 4 Shes Like Heroin to Me Thunder Head (02:44) 5 Thunder Head (03:28) 6 Emilys Changed (03:15) 7 Yellow Eyes (08:27) 8 Another Countrys Young (05:18) 9 My Dreams (03:46) 10 Fire of Love (03:54) 11 Bad Indian (02:24) 12 Devil in the Woods (03:30) 13 Fire Spirit (04:00) 14 Jack on Fire (04:53) 15 Temptation and I (04:58) 16 Goodbye Johnny (07:39) 17 Sleeping in Blood City (05:36) |
 | Album: 16 of 17 Title: The Life and Times of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club Released: 2008-11-03 Tracks: 69 Duration: 4:38:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bad America (04:55) 2 Shes Like Heroin to Me (02:35) 3 Ghost on the Highway (02:45) 4 A Devil in the Woods (03:05) 5 Fire of Love (02:08) 6 House on Highland Avenue (03:28) 7 Death Party (05:51) 8 My Mans Gone Now (03:16) 9 Hey Juana (03:11) 10 Eternity Is Here (02:58) 11 Love and Desperation (05:09) 12 Wildweed (02:41) 13 Moonlight Motel (03:08) 14 Bill Bailey (03:39) 15 Heart (03:58) 16 Going Down (04:36) 17 Go Tell the Mountain (06:23) 1 Sexbeat (03:28) 2 Not That Much (02:40) 3 Shes Like Heroin to Me (03:10) 4 Cool Drink of Water (03:36) 5 Fire of Love (02:06) 6 John Hardy (03:26) 7 Sexbeat (02:52) 8 Preachin the Blues (04:54) 9 Devil in the Woods (03:22) 10 Walking With the Beast (04:24) 11 Gunslinger (02:48) 12 Louie Louie (00:28) 13 Shes the Girl I Love/Ghost on the Highway (04:14) 14 The Lie (03:38) 15 Band Interview (01:13) 16 Fire Spirit (02:10) 17 Fire of Love (02:00) 18 Moonlight Motel (03:38) 19 Mother Earth (03:30) 20 Monlight Motel (03:06) 21 Brother and Sister (02:48) 1 Lost Highway/Moonlight Motel (07:34) 2 Bad America (05:33) 3 Preachin the Blues (06:29) 4 Gunslinger (03:42) 5 Death Party (08:30) 6 Stranger in Our Town (05:36) 7 Gila Monster New Mexico/Preachin the Blues (09:42) 8 My Dreams (04:27) 9 Bad America (04:57) 10 Walking With the Beast (05:21) 11 Moonlight Motel (03:43) 12 Eternity Is Here (03:12) 13 96 Tears (03:52) 14 Do the Twist (03:07) 1 Sex Killer (03:34) 2 Fire (03:46) 3 I Asked for Water, She Gave Me Gasoline (04:04) 4 Pastoral Hide and Seek (04:08) 5 Flowing (04:38) 6 I Hear Your Heart Singing (03:46) 7 Another Countrys Young (05:37) 8 Heart (03:54) 9 Fire Spirit (03:46) 10 Temptation and I (04:33) 11 Little Wing (04:37) 12 Yellow Eyes (09:36) 13 Im Going Upstairs (02:50) 14 Be My Kid (03:35) 15 L.A. County Jail Blues (03:50) 16 Lucky Jim (04:21) 17 Laughing (04:59) |
 | Album: 17 of 17 Title: Destroy The Country Released: 2015-07-07 Tracks: 6 Duration: 31:38 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Lost Highway / Moonlight Motel (07:09) 2 Bad American (02:49) 3 Bad Indian (06:02) 4 Brother & Sister (03:18) 5 Walking With The Beast (04:53) 6 Sex Beat / For The Love Of Ivy (07:24) |