Hits and Exit Wounds

I was excited when I was asked to review the latest Alabama 3 CD. I was a bit disappointed when it turned out to be a greatest hits affair, but I forgave them when I saw the title (Hits and Exit Wounds), and again when I remembered they are my favourite band and can therefore do no wrong, and yet again when I realised it meant I could just talk about the band and not have to pretend to know my complex musical sub-genre from my elbow.

OK, so that was rather a long sentence. Sorry.

I can’t remember my first. I’ve been to so many A3 gigs now, and the early ones in particular are a bit of a blur. I do remember being snuck backstage - not difficult as the band themselves are inveterate liggers and so are all their friends - and singing a song wot I rote and hoping they might get bowled over by my talent and ask me to join the band. It’s one of those memories which makes you suck an imaginary lemon and shrink in your seat. They were very nice about it all, but oh. Ouch.

And never mind me. I know of no other band that delivers live music with such consistent quality and enthusiasm, nobody else whose gigs I would attend without thought. It’s not just the walloping bass lines, or the inspired combination of c+w with thumping dance music. It’s not just the Jim Jones samples and evangelical sermons of the A3 front man, Reverend D Wayne, First Minister of the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine UK. It’s not just the VI Lenin backdrops, or the lyrics which mix revolutionary socialism and religion with a genuine fervour and a tongue placed firmly in cheek. It’s not just the giant hypodermic syringes held by sparkly dance girls when they perform Hypo Full of Love, or the way they use c+w song formulae to sing about drinking too much and partying too much and coming down too much in the wee small hours, it’s not just the fact that a show as cool as The Sopranos use an Alabama 3 track as their theme tune, it’s not just because they actively support victims of legal injustice or are planning an unplugged gig at Brixton prison in honour of Johnny Cash (if you’ve never listened to At Folsom Prison, you should), it’s not just the astonishing wit, intellect and uncompromising political astuteness of both Larry Love and Reverend D Wayne…

It’s all of those things, and some other stuff which I’ve forgotten, which makes the Alabama 3 My Favourite Band Ever.

So. Go and buy Hits and Exit Wounds, see them live on their upcoming tour, and once they have you converted… realise there’s a whole back catalog of brilliant music just sitting there waiting for you. Buy every last piece of it.


___