Calling
Now I Got Worry, the most recent album from the Jon Spencer
Blues Explosion, chaotic is sort of like calling a Diamanda Galas
album “difficult listening”. It’s a sonic mess that sounded like it
was recorded in the damp basement of one of the members apartments
after a bottle of Wild Turkey, a case of beer and various other
substances.
If you can tolerate the screams and the feedback shellings you
get with the opening track, “Skunk” and “Identify”, you begin to
see some structure form towards the end of the album. But it takes
a whole mess o’ listens to the album before you reach that point.
For a while,
Now I Got Worry, is noise, drenched in old-style blues, new
style funk and a brash attitude to boost.
Imagine Junior Wells, the Wu-Tang-Clan and Ministry having a
recording session together and you get a sample of the Blues
Explosion sound. Once you get through the initial difficult
listens, however, and
Now I Got Worry is a great work that stands on its own
merits. Lead singer/preacher Jon Spencer is no stranger to
“unstructured” sounds. He was one of the founders of the art-noise
band Pussy Galore. His love for the blues was one of the reasons
that the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion came to be. And with artists
such as Justin Berry and Thermos Malling, his love for the blues is
genuine and not some white boy novelty act.
Russell Simins improves on the grooves that helped make their
last album
Orange an essential buy. Judah Bauer refines his guitar
work, effortlessly jamming with Spencer, making the two an awesome
pair of ax-wielders. Highlights of their work can be found on
“Chicken Dog”, “Love All Over Me” and the instrumental, “B.L. Got
Soul”.
While Spencer’s blues-lovin’ fixation is indeed genuine, he’s
not above trying to perpitrate the bad-ass-mutherfucker stereotype
ala Dolemite. In “Wail”, he lets loose an Elvis like croon,
“owwwwww…sexy-funky”. On “Dynamite Lover”, he postures about,
well…look at the title and you get the idea.
For rhythm lovers, the entire middle of
Now I Got Worry is like KFC gravy. The groove gets offset by
the explosively charged, “Firefly Child” and “Eyeballin”, where the
bands punk roots surface. The rather poor sound quality of some of
the songs enhance the spontaneous energy the band has so well
utilized. On
Orange, that energy was toned down a bit to make way for a
more radio-friendly album.
Not surprisingly,
Orange is the album that is easier to like from the band. If
the psycho/punk blues sound is up your alley, check out
Orange first. However,
Now I Got Worry is a more rewarding buy. The looseness of
the album will sound too sloppy for most listeners. But, the album
is full of rewards. Those sloppy guitar scratches seem more and
more like painful recreations of the energy that past blues artists
relied on making their sound so vital.
Part of being a music lover is possessing a passion for a sound
that sometimes can’t be justified by logic. Given enough listens,
albums that once appeared to be the equivilant of a middle finger
to the fans sound as good as their other albums. Other debacles
such as
Van Halen III and
Re-Load can only be appreciated by fans who are willing to
put their children in front of a tour bus to get a chance to meet
the band.
Now I Got Worry falls into the former category. It
stubbornly avoids the in-your-face funk and groove of their earlier
albums. But they made an album that was meant to be appreciated by
letting it seep in listen after listen. If that’s too difficult for
listeners, they would be better off obeying the words of Mr.
Spencer, “Kiss my ass, ’cause your girlfriend still loves me!”
