This is just what you'd hope for if you stopped in a road house looking for the kind of food a road house doesn't ruin and the kind of beverage that led you to choose a road house rather than a place for which you'd choose food. The band is on the stage, sweating and pouring their hearts into the performance. The music is all over the spectrum -- garage, indie rock, blues, and soul. You hope they play long sets because you want to hear a lot more of it, and you hope you can sleep in your car for a while before you drive because as long as the band plays, you are going to stay. And that means you may have a few more drinks.
Eric Goulden, aka Wreckless Eric is an English rock and roll treasure. Fire Records previously reissued two excellent mid-career albums from Wreckless Eric, 1989's Le Beat Group Electrique and 1991's The Donovan of Trash, but this one -- The Hitsville House Band '12 O'Clock Stereo -- is my favorite of the Fire WE reissues so far. Recorded on analog equipment in mono in France with Parisian sidemen Fabrice Lombardo (bass) and Denis Baudrillart (drums), the newly dubbed Hitsville House Band recorded 12 tales of the type you should hear in a road house, either from the stage or at the bar, with enough precision to be worthy of the music and enough rough edges to do justice to the themes. We don't need to discuss styles, genres or production. Quite simply, this is rock and roll, and you are here because you love rock and roll. This album didn't get the love it deserved when released in 1996, despite the efforts of John Peel, but thanks to Fire Records, you have your chance.
Wreckless Eric's webpage
Twitter for Wreckless Eric
Fire Records page for album
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