I Got My Ass Kicked All Over Again

While the Liquor Giants' definitive high point remains their two near-flawless CDs on Matador in the mid-to-late 90's, this early single nets a near-perfect score in its own right. In fact, if I was putting together a list of the best pop-rock songs ever-- starting with "September Gurls", "Another Girl, Another Planet", "God Only Knows", "Girl of My Dreams", and moving on from there-- "Just Might Cry" is making the list, also. Sounding somewhat like the Stones' "Monkey Man" if Big Star had recorded it, Ward Dotson's vivid tale of a guy getting kicked out by his girlfriend ("I'm out sleeping in my car, she's keeping my guitar... you know, I shoulda grabbed my shoes") wouldn't be nearly as great if the lyrics weren't so perfectly droll and spot-on. Much like "September Gurls", when you listen to "Just Might Cry" you can feel the hurt, even if at the same time it's doing you a favor by making you feel slightly better about yourself.




Liquor Giants -

(this file is now listen-only)

"Just Might Cry"

Now I Know You're Better Off Not Caring

The Liquor Giants are another band that I got all giggly over on my old blog (not gonna put up a link this time since I just did one in my last post so now it's played out), and if you were ever into Big Star/Badfinger-style guitar pop then this is a band for you.

The Liquor Giants is where Ward Dotson distilled the bar-band rock of the wicked great Pontiac Brothers into something that was way more power-pop, in the process coming up with as many impossibly stunning melodies as anyone ever has, including the aforementioned Chilton/Bell/Ham etc. Accordingly, "Play Along"/"Disgusted" is an amazing single; perhaps mastered a bit too loudly on the a-side, which is why I'm posting "Disgusted" first here, but no doubt these are two great songs (cool Art Chantry sleeve design, too).

For those keeping score at home: Spike Priggen, who played bass on this, was the frontman for one of Ct.'s first pop-punk bands, the TV Neats.




Liquor Giants -

"Disgusted"

"Play Along"

(these files are now listen-only)