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Released by: Steamhammer/SPV
Released on: January 21st, 2014.
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The sixth fifth album (sixth if you include the remixed version of From Hell To Texas that came with the Live And Loud bonus disc or the seventh if you count The Dirty Best Of Nashville Pussy - but I don't) from Atlanta, Georgia's long reigning kings of sleaze once again sees Nashville Pussy dive deep into the depths of depravity to deliver thirteen tracks predictably dealing with sex, drugs and rock n roll.
The line up once again finds Blaine Cartwright handling guitars and vocals, Ruyter Suys doing more of the heavy lifting in the guitar department, Bonnie Buitrago on bass and Jeremy Thompson pounding away on the drums. The band produced the album with sound engineer Brian Pulito at Microsonic Studios in Lexington, Kentucky and the end result sees them staying true to their roots and trademark sound while at the same time adding some welcome complexity to the playing. This is more of a southern rock album than their earlier stuff that showed more of a punk rock edge but that edge is still there, it's impossible not to hear it.
The opening track starts off like a churchy gospel number with a pipe organ playing over some crowd cheers but seconds later, the guitar kicks in and we're in very familiar territory as Blaine Cartwright's snotty southern style gravelly vocals kick in. It's not as fast or as heavy as some of their stuff but it's got the sludge and the dirt to it that you'd expect from the band at this point in their career - it's a solid slice of southern rock with the volume turned up in the mix. Rub It To Death is much faster, a lot more of a punk rock number than the first track. The press release for this album compares it to Motorhead and while usually stuff like this is a load of bullshit, this time it's pretty accurate. It's a full speed ahead number with slick guitars up front in the mix and a really pounding bass and drum combo anchoring it all. Till The Meat Falls Off The Bone brings the sleaze that the band is none for to the front and while the guitar riffs start slowly with Blaine's vocals up higher and more prominent in the mix, that starts to change as the groove sets in and this one turns into a sludgy sort of groove track (that'd made more sense if you heard it).
The band's sense of humor is obvious throughout the album but nowhere as obviously as on the fourth track, The South's Too Fat To Rise Again. One of the fastest tracks on the album, this once again channels the Motorhead influence but throws in some Turbonegro with the vocal harmonies and slightly more melodic guitar work. This could have come right off of Apocalypse Dudes and that's about as lofty a compliment as you can pay to a track like this. Before The Drugs Wear Off starts off slowly with an acoustic guitar riff under Blaine's vocals. This one is a dirty blues number about having sex with a drug using pregnant chick and it's fucking great. We get the female backing vocals in the background helping it to build and some fun guitar noodling that prove that, yeah, these guys and gals can play. This is, hands down, the catchiest song on the album and it sounds more like a Waylon Jennings/ZZ Top collaboration than anything all that heavy - but it works and it works well. 'Well you're meaner than shit, hotter than hell, ten months pregnant and you' can't even tell - you've got it all, so let's get it on, before the drugs wear off.' Sheer poetry.
Moving right along, Spent puts the riffs back in the driver's seat as this guitar driven track channels the spirit of Bon Scott era AC/DC with another healthy injection of Ace Of Spades era Motorhead. It's fast, it's dirty and it's firmly anchored in the blues. It doesn't break any ground, in fact it sounds a lot like the Nashville Pussy that's always been, but fans shouldn't see that as a bad thing. This is just what you'd expect from the band and it's catchy as all get out. Beginning Of The End again sees the band bringing a ZZ Top influence to the record, it's raunchy and riff-centric and, as the loudest track on the album, it's fairly ambitious as well. The blues rock is there along with some vocal harmonies in the chorus, but it keeps Cartwright's lead in the middle where it should be. Great guitar solo here in the latter half of the track.
The title track is an ass kicking ode to excess, the kind of party hard song that the band is known for. The chorus asks for more, more of what exactly? You can probably guess. Some cool female harmonies in the chorus give Cartwright's whisky and cigarette sound a softer edge but only just barely. This is the kind of song that makes you want to go on a bender and drive into a wall. Taking It Easy is up next, and it's a song that lets Ruyter Suys handle the vocals and it sounds a bit like a Runaways track for that reason alone. The guitars have a bit more reverb here and while it's a fast track, there's a slightly psychedelic edge to the forty seven second barrage. White And Loud is a mid-tempo sludge fest that has a pretty anthemic feel to it - 'So say it proud, I'm white and loud' - it's not a racial thing, the band doesn't do that type of shit, but it is a proclamation of sorts. These guys are white trash and proud of it. 'Fuck your goddamn earplugs and your bullshit decibel guns, it's a wonderful world of noise and I'm gonna get me some.' Yeah! 'Telling me to turn it down is like asking me if I wanna fight!' I'm hearing some Turbonegro here as well. Good stuff.
Well past that half way mark we get Hooray For Cocaine, Hooray For Tennessee, which is a straight up country song about screwing a skinny girl that won't shut up and then getting locked up in the state best known for Music Row. No electrics here, just acoustic guitar and what sounds like a banjo (but which turns out to be a mandolin). It's a quick song at just over two minutes but yeah, this is a song about drugs and what happens when you do them - fun. Not so much a song about not doing drugs, there's no preaching here, but good times can get you in trouble. The band knows this first hand and it gives this track some authenticity. The penultimate track on the disc is Pillbilly Blues, a guitar heavy track that once again shows the influence of early AC/DC in the musicianship. The drums are faster here than anywhere else on the album and damn it all, there are spots where the band seems to be bringing in a Charlie Daniels Band influence as Blaine rambles on about hard luck times and the key to excess. Cartwright's scream at the end of this track is amazing.
Last but not least, Pussy's Not A Dirty Word is a gleeful celebration of everything that Nashville Pussy stands for. Lots of cursing, dirty words, and singalongability - 'no matter what you've heard, pussy's not a dirty word' - in the chorus. If you've ever listened to The Headstones from Ontario, Canada (and if you haven't you should) you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect here. Bluesy shit mixed with southern rock and vocals dragged out of the gutter in grand style, but then there's this odd rudimentary drum solo towards the end that slows things down a bit only for some Angus Young style guitar work to come in and get things back up to speed.
The complete track listing for this album is:
Everybody's Fault But Mine / Rub It To Death / Till The Meat Falls Off The Bone / The South's Too Fat To Rise Again / Before The Drugs Wear Off / Spent / Beginning Of The End / Up The Dosage / Taking It Easy / White And Loud / Hooray For Cocaine, Hooray For Tennessee / Pillbilly Blues / Pussy's Not A Dirty Word
The limited edition release of the album contains two bonus tracks:
Begging For A Taste / Before The Drugs Wear Off (Alternate Version)
These two tracks were not included with the digital files sent for review but they are included with the two record LP version of the release and the limited edition CD version of the release.
All in all, this is a very solid record. Nothing on here sucks and everything on here pretty much rocks in the literal sense of the word - you'll find yourself singing along to tracks before you've finished giving them their inaugural spin. The album has a slick sound, but not at the cost of the sleazy stylings you'd expect from them at this point in their career. The Supersuckers' frontman Eddie Spaghetti assisted Cartwright with a lot of the writing on this album and there are moments where his influence is definitely felt, but never to the point where it sounds like a Supersuckers album more than a Nashville Pussy album. The band has been around for over a decade and a half now and are fast approaching their twentieth anniversary - Up The Dosage has been a long time coming, they haven't put out a new album since 2009, but it shows that they're still in very fine form and have hopefully got a whole lot more to offer fans in the future.
