REVIEW: Reverend Horton Heat, Space Heater (Interscope)
- Bill Holmes
Imagine a recording that draws comparisons to Black Sabbath and Flatt & Scruggs! Seriously! When you jump in the rumble seat with this Texas trio, you spin that radio dial from the pickin' n grinnin' "The Prophet Stomp" all the way to the left where a more talented Black Sabbath might have pounded out "For Never More" in their garage. And that's not even conjuring up the very scary Perry Como singing-Spanish-at-gunpoint "Mi Amor"...
Yup, the boys are at it again - another mishmosh of geetar swangin' that may put a smile on your face or drive you crazy, depending how wide your bandwidth is as well as your tolerance for genre-jumping at the drop of a hat. Five albums in, those unfamiliar should know that there aren't many (if any) better purveyors of slap-bass, snap-drum, percolatin'-guitar than "The Rev", and cuts like "Lie Detector" and the self-depreciating "Jimbo Song" (Jimbo is the bassist, y'see) are prime slices of roadhouse rock. No such thing as reverence for topics, though - one read of the hilarious "Couch Surfin' or "Baby I'm Drunk" will set that right. Then again no one listens to the Rev for lyrical inspiration anyway.
Produced and mixed by the wonderful Ed Stasium (who also handled Love Nut's Baltimucho, so he's having a hell of a year!), Space Heater is all over the map from the Duane Eddy rebel rousing "Pride Of San Jacinto" to what can only be described as "cowpunk rap" on "Revolution Under Foot". Whether instrumental, vocal or butchering Spanish ("Cinco de Mayo", "Mi Amor"), Stasium coaxes a sound that captures the energy of the performances without falling into a redundant pattern. While not a solid wall-to-wall winner (I would have roped it in a little more), there's plenty here to get you up off your butt so you can shake it better. File this next to Webb Wilder in the "airplay be damned, we're gonna light your ass on fire" school of southern cooking.
