REVIEW: Shivaree, I Oughta Give You A Shot in the Head for
Making Me Live in This Dump
- Paul Andersen
From the opening strains of the nursery rhyme-like "Cannibal King," you instantly know that this album isn't going to be a cookie-cutter paint-by-the-numbers next-big-thing throw-corporate- dollars-at-it affair. Well, maybe that last part - after all, Odeon Records is under the Hollywood and Vine umbrella of Capitol Records
- still has a jury out on it, especially if you look at how they are marketing it, but no matter. This is, simply and foremost, an album that is going to sink its meathooks in you and not let go.If you followed the Capitol marketing scheme, you would swear that Shivaree is actually a person, but it is really a three-piece band. The chosen Capitol center of the universe on this project is singer Ambrosia Parsley - you don't make up a name like that one, folks - of whose songs this record swirls around. But don't forget her bandmates, guitarist Duke McVinnie and keyboardist Danny McGough - a Tom Waits sideman, no less - because their contributions to the hard-to-describe sound (think of it as 16 Horsepower with a sensual instead of spiritual rant to it, mixed with a dash of Concrete Blonde darkness) are essential, lifting Parsley's vocals into an ethereal kaleidoscope of sound that will have you leaving the repeat button in the 'on' position.
Simply put, this is a wonderful debut from a band worth watching.
