Customer Reviews

Gun-Shy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gun-shy is a cornerstone album of 80's alternative,,,,,every bit in the same class with "Violent Femmes", "Murmur", "Psychocandy", etc. Even now, it still sounds fresh, adventurous, amazing. Like the first V. Femmes, nothing else comes close. Start-to-finish, compelling, fascinating, essential.

Every fan of alternative music should have a copy.

Why the hell are these guys outta print? As one of the few good things to crawl out of the mid-80's pre-Alternative Rock quagmire, Gunshy rocked the f**k out! Between the schizophrenically menacing lyrics and vocals, the airtight rythmn section and the deranged, ear-splitting guitar work, these guys shoulda been monsters not footnotes. Personally, I thought the Hank Williams covered RULED, as did Twin Cadillac Valentine, Someone to Talk to, and come to think of it, most everything except Holiday Head & Talking Doll. I'm truly pissed my vinyl copy of this album bit the dust, especially with folks selling their CD's for over a hundred bucks. If I had a CD copy, as the man himself observed on this very albumn "Not for sale! Not for sale! Know-what-I-mean? Not for sale!"

These guys came along at a time when Clash fans like myself were feeling badly that the Clash were no longer, and filled a void. Seemingly from out of left field, the Screaming Blue Messiahs came along and rocked our world. It was great, and I am forever thankful. This, their debut, was probably their best record. I now miss them, and miss listening to this. I wish this would be rereleased. Spending $250 for this seems a bit steep.

So what in the world ever happened to the Screaming Blue Messiahs, the hyperactive, loud, rowdy trio that scorched many a speaker during the largely moribund `80s? Though we still cannot say, at least what happened to frontman Bill Carter (Kenneth Harris and Chris Thompson recently resurfaced in the Killer B's), we can and should be listening to recordings such as Gun Shy for several reasons.

First, this music is always loud and torrid, sometimes feverish, sometimes clever, and always entertaining. Wasn't rock meant to be defined by such terms?

Second, Bill Carter absorbed popular culture, politics, and social trend then rendered these observations through the supercomputer embedded in his gleaming bald dome to render some of the more penetrating, strafing lyrics and guitar chords to emerge from the sludge pile rock was devolving in around this time. You have to pay attention to songs like Let's Go Down to the Woods or Killer Born Man to realize this is not your normal fare. Of course, little here is, and therein lies the beauty of this recording.

Third, the band as a whole packed a blistering amount of sound and power into each track. This music is loud music, and it is excellent loud music. Try to keep your feet from kicking and stomping during Wild Blue Yonder or President Kennedy's Mile and you might tear muscles in the process.

The only stumble, in my book, is a cover of Hank William's You're Gonna Change. But if you like songs about guns, cars, smashing stuff, and way out gonzo and twisted persons and events, then see if you can track down a copy of this bad boy.

This was a completely awesome mid-80's band. They morphed from a group called Motor Boys Motor, and I first started listening to them when they opened for Bowie on a couple of "Glass Spider" concerts. They were certainly better than the main attraction. Billed as "wall of sound rhythm and blues" the sheer amount of noise made by this trio was something to behold. I saw them once more, at the Grotto in New Haven, CT in October of 1989, supporting their "Bikini Red" album. Unfortunately, "I Wanna Be A Flintstone" doomed them to almost a novelty act. I did once see a video on the screen at Toad's Place from "Totally Religious" for "Four Engines Burning", but never heard from them again. I own their entire collection, including the early 90's release of a live album recorded in Paris in 1990. Nice to see that these CDs are actually worth something!

Bill Carter (as I understand) came into an inheritance and is living semi-retired, and the rest of the band formed a new group whose name I cannot recall. They had a limited CD made, and it is lurking somewhere in my collection.

This was an excellent album when it came out, and I had the privelege of seeing the band with an audience of about 250 at the Brewery in Raleigh, NC on (I think) first US tour. They were smoking from the first song, and not a soul was sitting down for the entire show. Tighest drum and bass combo I have ever seen, and they really sounded like more than three guys.
Top it all off with Bill Carter, of shaved head, who looked at any moment like he might smash his guitar or dive into the audience for kicks!
But of course a live show has to be backed up with good songs. Bill had a way with words and references to American trash culture - he was obviously a TV baby - make a lot of the songs on Gun Shy stick in your head for days.

GunShy was awesome, but I was getting tired of my Cassette tape. After checking their website:http://www.screamingbluemessiahs.co.uk/, I finally found out how to get these guys on CD.
It is possible to get any of the old albums on CD for under 20.00 USD. Just follow these directions: Send an email with "SBM CDs" in the subject line to:
kennyharr@msn.com

I was searching everywhere on the web and in used CD stores. Ebay is asking close to 200 USD. I sent an email to Kenny Harris(drummer for the Sreaming Blue Messiahs) and ordered GunShy, for less than 20 USD. The CDR is very professional looking(the cover art on the CD and in the jewel case good are re-productions). I was very satisfied, the CD sounds great.

September 1986 this three piece fronted by Bill Carter on guitar & vocals was like a well tuned machine. I wasn't prepared for the sonic blast of pure blues. This was the '80s and these guys were resurrecting the bones of Robert Johnson & Elmore James along with nuevo honkytonk & urban legends. No one has sounded quite like them before or since. Bill Carter was channelling his own American roots gods on par with the Stones, Zeppelin & Clapton. Jimi was watching down. But at the time most people just weren't listening.

This is by far on of the best albums I've had the pleasure of listening to.This band had balls when most bands were trying to be the next Cure or U2. This is the last album on my list of ones I had and I've been trying to replace.This band and this album was a life saver to a small bunch of guys in college in N.H. in the late 80's.We starting smoking Dunhills after figuring out what a "Dunnie" was.This is a blistering hot album.I am hard pressed to think of a band with a sound like this.I listen to vast mountain of crap these days and tell my wife that it has already been done in the 80's

Thanks to M. Dougherty for scanning such a great image of the album cover on to this site - I was dying to remember what the cover looked like. Their song "Wild Blue Yonder" reminds me of the rough, live, cool AUSTIN, Texas sound that bands like "The Fabulous Thunderbirds" were famous for.