Supersuckers/Electric Frankenstein Splitsville & Supersuckers The Songs All Sound The Same
By
Frank Meyer,
Contributing Editor
Friday, August 2, 2002 @ 5:57 PM
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It’s been a year of looking back for the Tucson-by-way-of-Seattle hard rockers the Supersuckers. While in between official in-studio rock n’ roll juggernauts, the band has released a live country album that looks back at their Must’ve Been High era and now we get The Songs All Sound The Same, a repackaging of their early long out of print Empty Records singles. In addition, they recently cut a split CD with New York’s finest punk-metal veterans Electric Frankenstein. Let’s take a look.
The Songs All Sound The Same features the band's original 1990 demos, many of which became their first vinyl singles on Empty before signing with SubPop later on. These recordings find the band in a more punk rock setting, with little of the rootsy leanings they developed later on. All cut in the louder than loud and liver than live tradition of all ‘Suckers recordings. It’s no wonder they cover Motorhead’s “Sex and Outrage” ‘cause they sound pretty much like Lemmy and Co. throughout this entire disc. There are several fan favorites on here in their original raw form, such as “Saddletramp,” “Luck,” and “I Say Fuck,” plus covers of Madonna (“Burnin’ Up,”), Nazareth (“Razzmanazz”), Dead Boys (“What Love Is”), and the Flaming Groovies (“Second Cousin”) -- all delivered with the trademark tongue in cheek humor and amped up rock fury we have come to know and love from this hard workin’ outfit. Plus there’s some funny liner notes from frontman/bassist Eddie Spaghetti that chronicle the bands forming years that will please the hardcore fans.
On Splitsville, the ‘Suckers team up with Bowery brutes Electric Frankenstein for an all-out fist to fist, man to man, guitar to guitar bout to the death. Each band delivers four brand new unreleased originals and cover of the other band. EF blasts through the ‘Suckers “She’s My Bitch” like they own it, while Eddie and the boys give the country workout to EF’s “Teenage Shutdown.” EF contributes the rippin’ “Sweet Baby Ignorance,” a prime example of why this band is among the best around for straight up hard rawk n’ roll. Vocalist Steve Miller just tears into this one with his Steven Tyler meets Stiv Bators throaty wail. “Good For Nothing” is a mid-tempo hard rocker that finds Miller preachin’ like Neidermeyer in the “We’re Not Gonna Take It” video before going into some KISS style hip shakin’ grooves. Meanwhile, “Not This Time” and “Rip it Apart” display the band’s hardcore punk stripes, which they wear proudly on their torn and tattered sleeves.
So if you’re a fan of either of these acts you should certainly score Splitsville as both bands are in top form and it’s a truly ass kickin’ little package. If you’re a diehard Supersuckers fan you may already have some of the stuff on The Songs All Sound The Same but likely not everything, so you will be compelled to cop this one as well. So there you go. Thirty bucks down the tube. But hey, at least you’re spending it on rock and not hookers, right?
* * * * (Splitsville)
* * * * (The Songs All Sound The Same)
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