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 -

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"Just Might Cry"

Clowns Join The Circus Nearly Every Day

I was listening to this CD as I was driving across the state today, on my way to the casino (where I came out 38 cents ahead on the 1/4 penny slots-- fukkin' A-right), and it was sounding pretty good, so screw it, why not post it. "Fuzzy Little Piece of the World" was the last of the Pontiac Brothers albums, written and recorded on a lark (if I remember the story correctly) after the band had been broken up for a couple of years. "Clowns Join The Circus" is probably my favorite Pontiac Brothers lyric ever-- "Barnum and Bailey are hirin' too"-- and you better believe that Ward Dotson is on the short short list of most overlooked American rock geniuses ever. If you don't already know that, then get yourself some Liquor Giants records and learn it quick. Plus 38 cents is about what I spent on this CD when I bought it used, so there you go, it's like karma or something.




The Pontiac Brothers -

"Fuzzy Little Piece Of The World"

"Clowns Join The Circus"

"Cry"

"Feelgood"

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If I Could Just Remember The Words

This is either the Pontiac Brothers' second or third album, or second and a half, depending upon how you count "Doll Hut", but there's no question that this is one of the best straight-up rock albums ever to come out of the 80's, period. Actually, with most people it wasn't all that easy a question, which was kinda too bad, so "Fiesta En La Biblioteca" sorta fell by the wayside; but by then Frontier was already making millions off Suicidal Tendencies, so what's one more record that didn't sell?

"Be Married Song" has been described as "the best Paul Westerberg song that Paul Westerberg never wrote", which is a bit unfair to Ward Dotson, whose songwriting trumps Westerberg's in several ways, not the least of which is the lack of total dreck. All the other songs on this record are sung by Matt Simon, who'd sorta laid off the Mick Jagger thing by then, although "Girl From El Reno" still sounds like it could've been lifted from any one of the Mick Taylor-era Stones records. And the Spinal Tap moment "She Likes To Rock" (properly pronounced here as "rök") sounds like it could've been lifted from a Ratt record, production-intact, except that it's a lot less dull-witted.




The Pontiac Brothers -

"She Knows It"

"Look Out For That Train"

"Be Married Song"

"She Likes To Rock"

"The Thing Just Goes"

"The Girl From El Reno"

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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"

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