Back when I lived in Colorado, I received my very first Lucero CD, then later that week I saw them open for BR549 (this was after the “–“ was taken out of their name) in Fort Collins and I’ve loved their work ever since. The place I saw them was a very different kind of venue for this southwest Kansas plowboy. First off, the best looking girl in the place had a huge tattoo on her left arm that said “Vegetarian.” Not exactly what you’re looking for in a woman when you work at a feedyard. Reminds me of when the Hills had to take care of Connie and she asked them how many cows they eat in a year and Hank replied, “Wait, we figured this out one time.” The other thing about this place, located in Colorado, they didn’t serve the home state beer. That’s right, no Coors Brewing products on the premises. But they did have Fat Tire, which is brewed literally a couple of blocks away from the bar. Now this was before the days of gas prices where you had to see Van for a loan just to fill up your tank. And it only had to move a short distance, so there shouldn’t be a lot of transportation costs, but it still cost $4.50 for a mug of beer. Needless to say, I was completely sober for the performances. But that’s a good thing, because I got to enjoy the post-modern punk/country rock (You read me right, post-modern punk/country rock. That’s how it’s described on their web site, punk/country, I added the post-modern and rock because I think it makes it cooler sounding) ramblings of Lucero and watch BR549’s bass player twirl his up right bass above his head. If you’re thinking of picking up a Lucero CD (which I highly recommend) I would suggest getting Tennessee, especially if you’re more on the “country” side of the post modern punk/country rock spectrum. That one is my personal favorite. If your music tastes are more hard-core and on the “punk” side of post modern punk/country rock I would go with “Nobody’s Darlings.” Basically, there music gets harder as they put out new stuff. (Remember, Attic Tapes is a re-issue, so it’s their first stuff) They also have some DVD documentaries you can buy.
Attic Tapes consists of nine tracks that were on the original release and five bonus tracks. The first song coming at you is “Into Your Eyes.” It’s Ben Nichols ode to a girls with a tremendous set of eyes. Me, I’m more of a smile man. Different strokes for different folks I guess. The next song is a great heartbreak song. That’s what I love about Nichol’s writing; he can put some real good hurt in a song, but leave a strong beat in the song. The third track is “Hello Sadness.” I bet he had just finished listening to “Hello Walls” when he wrote this song. What else can I say hello to, hmmm, how about “Hello vanmarsalis.com.” This song does have a great line: I feel the pain like shot from a gun. Cuts 4, 5 and 6 are definitely precursors to future songs. You can see how the songwriting has progressed when you listen to the middle of this CD. Cut 8 has a cool bass line in it and track 9 is about a southern boy fighting in Germany. The first 3 of the bonus tracks are demos, and the sound quality isn’t the greatest, but I like how they play out. The fourth bonus track could have easily been dedicated to Cage in his single days. “My Best Girl” is also on Tennessee, and is one of my favorite songs of theirs. The song chronicles a boy who can’t get a girl to notice him at the bar, but his girl at home will always be waiting for him. By the way, his girl waiting at home is his guitar.
My best girl has six strings
And she knows all about
These heart breaks and things
And though her eyes may not shine
She’s all mine
So what have we learned today”
- a “vegetarian” tattoo isn’t as cool as you’d think
- everyone should have a Lucero CD in their collection
- the next great hello song will be “Hello vanmarsalis.com,”
- $4.50 is to much to pay for a beer
- and if you’re a young gal with a cute smile, call me.
- You can get Lucero Merchandise at milesofmusic.com.
I’ll give this CD 4 and a half out of 5 vegetarian tattoos.