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***Anything even remotely blues-influenced was thought to be pretty much beyond the pale until a short while ago. Dan Melchior has been playing his own twisted and driving take on barebones rock'n'roll for several years now, making appearances on over 20 commercially released recordings while constantly honing his own lyrical attack and idiosyncratic way with a tune. Influences as disparate as Creedence, The Fall, and William Blake blend seamlessly, especially in his most fully realized work to date, Bitterness, Spite, Rage and Scorn, the second album on In The Red Records by Melchior and the Broke Revue. With Bruno Meyrick Jones on guitar, Brad Truax on bass, and Greg Anderson on drums holding a rock-steady yet fluid groove behind him, Melchior holds forth with an uncompromising and extremely articulate vision and voice. The playing of the band is superb, disciplined yet funky. Longtime collaborator Jones really shines on this recording, while Truax and Anderson shift effortlessly from one muscular groove to another. The engineering expertise and general sonic know-how of Mike McHugh helps the band push their sound into unexpected avenues, resulting in eclectic but cohesive album, delivered with the intensity and fire In The Red fans have every right to expect. Like his buddy Wild Billy Childish, Dan Melchior plunders elderly American musical styles ... and then rams 'em back home to us as outpourings of some eccentric and curmudgeonly Brit weirdo who's sorta like an overamped Doc Boggs.... Melchior ... freely combine[s] second-hand Delta blues with .... grimy murder ballads from England and Appalachia, and update[s] them thru the Toe Rag studio school of crooked-teeth charm.... His voice sounds lots like Childish or mebbe like Ben from The Country Teasers, and the Broke Revue sounds like the Headcoats playing an all-request covers set at Junior Kimbrough's blues joint the night the place burned to the ground. -Jon Sarre, Lollipop |
