You Look Just Like An Elvis From Hell! Fire Of Love--Gun Club Classic for Thanksgiving

I will be your Lover and Exorcist--but you will never get my soul.

Well it's Thanksgiving day once again in the old USA. A day when family and friends come together and give thanks for what they have. What better way to celebrate than to post a piece on a classic psychotic blues punk slab? Fire Of Love is one of the classic punk albums ever, with a demented Jeffrey Lee Pierce leading us on a tour of the backroads of the Old South. Ward Dotson is a complete terror on guitar throughout and at times the rhythm section Rob Ritter (bass)and Terry Graham (drums) is at times so frenetic they threaten to run the songs off the rails. It is without doubt one of the great singing performances you will ever hear. His persona on the album is that of a crazed preacher, or Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis Presley on an out of control bender. This is one of the great ones folks, and an important cornerstone of any rock and roll collection.

Fire Of Love is their first album, and I think their best. You could be tempted to call them a below the Mason-Dixon line version of the Cramps, but in reality they are much more than that. There is crazy literary quality to the songs. They seem more like short stories or insane sermons. Like characters out of a Jim Thompson pulp or Falkner. Or updated old traditional folk tunes or old American legends. The narrators in these stories seem to be bad people in general, people who are conflicted, angry, out of control.

And racist. You will find the N word on this record. I always consider that when people who use that word it is more a reflection on the speaker than the people they are referring to. As is the case here in these songs. The characters are mean, vengeful, out of control  and hate filled people and use of such an offensive term is merely icing on the descriptive cake. No soft pedaling on this album.It is no endorsement of the use of the word by any means. Just as in the Dead Kennedy's song I Kill Children. Jello Biafra is playing the role of a maniac, not engaging in any form of advocacy. I'm putting this out there because it is a good thing to know when you get a record that has something offensive inside. I don't know if people sometimes understand the history and amount of suffering encapsulated in that term. It's a past most Americans would like to put behind us completely, but one we can never forget about. And there still is much work left to do in that regard, making America a place where everyone can live a good life.

But there are also so many other themes touched on here. Cars, alcohol, raging hormones, religion, unrequited affection, but with infinitely greater bluntness. Fire of Love begins with the revved up 50's styled Sex Beat. This song is very reminiscent of the LA legends X. "They can twist and turn, they can move and burn, they can throw themselves against the wall, but they creep for what they need, and explode to the call."
Equating rebellion with sexual abandon. Preach The Blues is powerhouse gale force blues, with Jeffery Lee in full testifying form but capturing a life in conflict. The music kicks down to quiet confessional mode (as it does on other songs on this disc) "But the womens and the whiskey, they would not let me pray."

Probably the most intense song on Fire Of Love is the scorching She's Like Heroin To Me.

We sit together drunk like our fathers used to be,
I'm looking up to and God is saying what are you gonna do?
I'm looking up and I'm crying I thought it was up to you!

She's like heroin to me, she cannot miss a vein...

She is like an ivory swimming pool

There is a surreal dreamy quality to some of the songs, like rural folklore. They cast spells, like voodoo. Things are not always as they seem. Songs like Fire Spirit and Ghost On The Highway, or Promise Me. Ghost on The Highway has some of the wildest slide guitar you will hear any time soon. For The Love of Ivy has a confessional quality to about it, like a Jim Thompson novel where the lead character think his behavior is rational and sane, but the more you get to know them, the more they reveal themselves as reprehensible psychos. A running battle between religious proscription and the inner demons of desire. What could be more American than that? The album definitely strikes a nerve when it comes to America. These songs were formulated in the Texas of Jeffrey Lee's childhood. While these songs don't demonstrate that America is crazy, the underlying themes that are articulated here are very real.

Sadly Pierce died in 1996 from a brain hemorrhage at age 37. His musical career was plagued by years of alcohol abuse unfortunately. But The Gun Club is deserving of all their critical accolades. Furthermore they are recognized as being a very influential band. Many groups have been inspired by their groundbreaking melding of blues and punk. Bands like The White Stripes, Pixies, Mark Lanegan, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Raveonettes, Henry Rollins. If you like this album you will no doubt want to explore The Gun Clubs other records. Miami, Las Vegas Story, and Mother Juno are all pretty excellent too. But Fire Of Love is the one I keep coming back to. One of the great albums of the last 30 years. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.