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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story


The tragedy of the Gun Club's third album, Las Vegas Story is that it was largely ignored by both critics and fans due to the mixing and mastering disaster that was its predecessor, Miami -- an album that was full of great songs and performances but was so marred by poor sound that it sounded lifeless. Both records were issued by Chris Stein's Animal label. Las Vegas Story was produced by Jeff Eyrich who was just coming off T-Bone Burnett's Proof Through the Night project and was about to enter the studio with both the Plimsouls and Thin White Rope. Its lineup features the return of original guitarist Kid Congo Powers, as well as drummer Terry Graham and new bassist Patricia Morrison (aka Pat Bag) from L.A. punk outfit the Bags. Late frontman /guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce was writing feverish rock & roll songs that took their inspiration from Southern blues and West Texas country music all framed by an angular, jagged post-punk energy. The screaming rawness at the heart of the band's debut, Fire of Love, had been replaced by a dry, moaning lonesome, percussion heavy desert sound, space and echo float through the mix like a ghost through Pierce's slide guitar playing. Bass drum and tom-toms fuel the attack with a basic, primitive nocturnal energy. Topics ranged from personal disintegration in "Walkin' With the Beast," and the country-blues-drenched "Eternally Is Here," and the shambolic, two-step country confusion of "My Dreams" that quotes directly from Television's "Marquee Moon" to the disappearance of the nation in "Bad America"'s edgy guitar wrangle. There are a couple of covers on the set tossed right in the center of the album: "The Master Plan," a spooky, brooding, rock read of Pharoah Sanders' and Leon Thomas' "The Creator Has a Master Plan," and a slovenly, funereal version of "My Man's Gone Now," by George and Ira Gershwin from +Porgy and Bess. Las Vegas Story is a provocative record that offers the Gun Club pulled in many directions at once, and though the tension is in evidence on every track, it nonetheless holds together. After Fire of Love, Las Vegas Story is their most satisfying and is, perhaps, the band's most visionary offering. (Year of Release: 1984)

Track List:
1. Las Vegas Story
2. Walkin' With the Beast
3. Eternally Is Here
4. Stranger in Our Town
5. My Dreams
6. Master Plan
7. My Man's Gone Now
8. Bad America
9. Moonlight Motel
10. Give Up the Sum
11. Secret Fires

Download: Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story (53.3MB)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey now!

Great blog, excellent and diverse taste in music. Thanks for taking the time and the effort. I plan to return often. I don't have a blog but will sign off comments as:

working_man

Zer0_II said...

Thanks a lot working_man. It's not always an easy choice to decide what I'm going to upload, but I'm thankful that people such as yourself are approving of the albums I post. I'll do my best to deliver more quality music in the future.

Slobodan Burgher said...

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

great blog, great posting
your tracklist is right, but the trax are in wrong order and tags are wrong too. to other downloaders: check http://www.gerpotze.com/gunclub/lyrics.htm#tlvs

Anonymous said...

Thanx!

Dave said...

Thanks a lot! Have it on vinyl but am now happy to have the mp3s!