Heavy Trash

Heavy Trash | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 19, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B0007ULNIQ
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,236 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

New York City music pals Matt Verta-Ray and Jon Spencer have joined forces to create one of the strongest works in either of their catalogs. Spencer of course led his own Blues Explosion, after the demise of his earlier Pussy Galore, while Verta-Ray was rumbling about with the similarly inclined Speedball Baby. The two play off each other throughout these thirteen songs with evident glee. Their contrasting vocal styles are heard to great effect on such tandem numbers as "This Day Is Mine." They're joined by a rotating cast of sympathetic players, but it is the strength of their own character and writing that unifies the disc. Sassy, barbed, punchy, and real, they captured each number with rough and tumble perfection. --David Greenberger

Amazon.com

In retro terms, this is the perfect party platter for what the B-52's once dubbed a "Party out of Bounds." The raw-edged music represents a blast from the past through the wild frontier of rockabilly, as Jon Spencer (of the Blues Explosion) and Matt Verta-Ray (of Speedball Baby) take a reckless joyride that channels the inspiration of Jerry Lee Lewis and the Cramps. With a warped twang, delirious distortion, and a perpetual leer in the vocals, the stripped-down duo achieve a hopped-up transcendence on "Lover Street" and "The Hump," while showing a more expansive range on "Walking Burn," which brings a bit of a lilt to a world of torment, and the segue of the country-soulful "Fix These Blues" into the majestic "Take My Hand." Prudish ears take note: the playfully suggestive, not quite euphemistic "Gatorade" isn't the thirst quencher sold in bottles. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock n Roll, April 19, 2005

By 

Gavin (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heavy Trash (Audio CD)

Raw and raunchy. Gritty and groovy.The way it should be played. A great CD all the way through. Quit reading this and listen to the soundclips, then buy it. This is good basic primal rock. Played for fun with feeling rather than a whole lot of thought.
a good mix of rockabilly, punk blues, murder ballads, and down and dirty swamp rock.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jon Spencer has found his calling, February 6, 2006

By 

Derrick Castle (Nashville) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heavy Trash (Audio CD)

I have been a huge fan of Jon Spencer for years and if your like me and have been slightly disappointed in the last couple of records (Plastic Fang, Damage) I mean they arent terrible, they just dont have the edge and replayability of extra width, orange and The Caroline album. This was the revitalization that Jon Spencer needed. I find myself anticipating the next Heavy Trash album much more than JSBX. Its definitely not like The Blues Explosion but its just the right mix of Johnny Brunette, Elvis and Hank Williams combined with a lo-fi modern edge. If you like rockabilly and Gothic Country, completely disregard "Cooljames" comments, this album doesnt say JSBX on it, it says Heavy Trash. By the way, I do agree with the disapointment of 5150 but this aint like that. This album is great!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oddball rockabilly update, September 27, 2005

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Heavy Trash (Audio CD)

Neither Jon Spencer (Pussy Galore, Blues Explosion) nor Matt Verta-Ray (Speedball Baby, Madder Rose) are strangers to '50s rockabilly, but nothing in their catalogs has so purely chased the Sun's slapback fueled sound so fully. Which isn't to suggest this is an exercise in retro reproduction, as the duo's music is influenced by the garage sounds of The Cramps, the bigger-than-life attitude of glam-rock (T Rex, New York Dolls), and is threaded with organ, theramin and other unusual touches. The dominant forces, though, are the duos vocals and their guitars. The drums are lowered in the mix, letting the bass and the guitar strings themselves carry a lot of the beat, and the vocals contain the yelping energy of Charlie Feathers. "Mr. K.I.A." strips the band down to thumping percussion and a Johnny Cash like baritone vocal. "Walking Bum" takes the tempo down to a walk for John Graboff to overlay his pedal steel with Spencer and Verta-Ray twang the low-end of their tremolo drenched guitar strings. "Lover Street" sounds like the Cramps borrowing the slide riff of Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle With You." Interesting stuff - but perhaps not for rockabilly purists! [©2005 hyperbolium dot com]