You Can't Kill Stupid By Conventional Means--Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Hall of Fame Here We Come

Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments was great little band from Columbus, Ohio. When I listen to Bait And Switch, I think about what a great live act they must have been. The album is a wild rocking, bluesy absurdist punk recording. Ron House is singing right on the edge, a guy at the crossroads with a hell hound on his back, pursuing his own distinct path through the blues, kind of like a lower register Jello Biafra. This album got some traction upon its release but like most things I can't imagine a lot of people are into this today. Too bad.

There is a lot of energy and attitude here, the guitar work is kinetic, and the rhythm section is driving. This is an album that is not perfect--Monk said that if you don't get the song in a few takes forget it--, and it is better for that. If you hate the early Replacements albums because Paul Westerberg sang out of tune, you are a nitpicker, and this record is not for you. But Ron House definitely has his own original voice here and he makes this record such an eccentrically interesting album.

My Mysterious Death (Turn It Up) is a hard hitting start to the record, the lyrics clever and funny and serious at the same time. Is She Shy? is a follow up in the same vein a song probably about a girl he knew. Most of the songs are pretty cool with interesting lyrics, ruminations on the foibles of people, and complaining about the frustrations of life. Quarrel with the World is a great confrontational rave up. Cheater's Heaven is about flying under the radar to a place where nobody knows you and no one cares. "I would just like to enter my home and feel justified" begins You Can't Kill Stupid another reflection on modern life. Negative Guest list is a Pistoly workout. Cyclotron reminds me a lot of the New York Dolls--("You're mouth is a vast wasteland"). Wrongheaded sounds like an outtake from Husker Du's Flip Your Lid.

I guess judging by their song RNR Hall of Fame, they are not too down with the Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I guess as punks they feel that all the pomp and circumstance is pretty absurd, since punk rock took rock and roll back from the taxidermists. Blow it up before Johnny Rotten gets in, before Steve Albini makes a speech!!! Not wanting to see Kurt Cobain's shotgun is a great line, a rejection of the veneration of saint's relics.

If you like Husker Du, Replacements, New York Dolls, Gun Club, you will like this record, which is readily available at a really cheap price.