REVIEW: Sand Rubies, Return of the Living Dead
(San Jacinto Records/Contingency)
- Chris Hill
When a band breaks up, only to return years later, I expect a new release equal in size to the amount of time the band's been gone (Hill's Law of Just Repayment for Emotional Damages and Loss). 1993 saw the last studio album from the Sand Rubies, their self-titled major label debut on Atlas/Polygram, which threatened to be both a masterwork and a swan song.
In their earlier incarnation as the Sidewinders, this band released two prized albums: Witchdoctor and Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall, full of words and music that evoke feelings of desolation, loss, hope, struggle, love, and victory. Rich Hopkins' extended guitar notes define the Arizona rock sound of the late '80s and early '90s for me - he's a guitarist who produces resonant notes of tangible emotion.
Five years on, Sand Rubies still sounds fresh to me, and my favorite song on the cd never settles on one choice, but vacillates with every listen - a personal hallmark of a great record. Would the new one have this same quality?
Yep. Return of the Living Dead isn't the three cd set they owe me, but its ten songs are a worthy addition to an incredible catalog.
"Paper Thin Line" leapt out on the first listen. From the pounding drums opening the song, I was hooked. Hearing Slutes' crooning "I know you'll never listen to me/but what you're doing, well, I have my doubts/I once tried the big city myself/and trash like us just gets tossed right out" and Rich's wailing guitar
- BAM! I was back in the groove. This song and the revenge fantasy "Turn off Your Stereo" beg to be singles."Undone Again" - this was the next to sink in. A sad outsider's look at a habit that took over and wrecked a life - "the money was wired/now there's no smack left in Manhattan" - it's as chilling as it is enthralling.
"Primevil Love", a live standard for years, hadn't caught my ear on the '96 Sand Rubies Live cd, but now it's the song I'm waiting to see them play live - that hypocritical turn of opinion that makes music such a wonder.
Return... also shows the band stretching out. "The Loner" is more straightforward rock and roll than previous recordings, with distorted vocals used to augment the song's theme. "Cut Me Out" finds them looping the guitar sound for ambiance. This song also contains my favorite song closure of '98, but I won't ruin the surprise.
The cd's two covers - Del Shannon's "Stranger in Town" and Johnny Thunders' "Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" - do justice to the originals, yet I couldn't help but feel a tad thwarted by two covers in place of two more original songs.
Post-breakup, Hopkins has released a handful of albums as Rich Hopkins & Luminarios, yet even the finest of these releases, El Paso, somehow misses the Sidewinders/Sand Rubies vibe.
So, Return... is like a postcard from an old friend. It's not an eight-page letter filling you in on a separate life, but it is a hello, a reconnection, and an implied promise of further, future contact.
For further information on the Sidewinders and Sand Rubies, check out their label's website at http://www.contingency.com
