Thee Exciters

Thee Exciters, Spending Cash, Talking Trash (Dirty Water Records) Were Thee Exciters to be stuck in their current mode for the rest of the band's life, they'd still whip the shit out of at least 70 percent of the garage bands working today. It's a lot like someone threw the Chocolate Watch Band in a room with the Stooges and Stiff Little Fingers (note the "Suspect Device" nod at the beginning of "Johnny’s Too Messed Up") with a case of whiskey and a sack of cocaine, then shut off the lights. The grooves are tight and thick, and you'll probably never find better evidence to crown Southampton as "The new Detroit" (as claimed in a picture in the album’ s liner notes). Justin Cunningham's guitar is layered without hurting the recording’s grit, while vocalist Paul LeBrock comes from the same blues steeped lineage as Jack White. The rhythm section of Richey Walker and Alex Tapps, on drums and bass respectively, are like titanium cogs and recall a rhythm section like Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay on the second Paul Butterfield Blues Band album. Bottom line is that LeBrock and Cunningham could so anything they want over the rhythm guys and no one would miss a beat. From the fuzz workouts ("Pretty, Elegant and Neat," "Mummies Little Boy," "Why Can't You See?") to the blues numbers ("Bringing Me Down," Things Ain’t Right") and the nasty punk ("Jacob’s Gutter," "Out of My Hands" and the title track), if Thee Exciters ever miss their mark, it's never by much. (The second half of the 26 track disc contains the band’s entire live set from the tenth anniversary weekend of the Dirty Water Club, which means you get live versions of all Spending Cash tracks, excluding "Bringing Me Down" and "Two Dollar Bill," which are left out in favor of EP cuts "Q