BLACKEYED SUSANS - All Souls Alive LP

First pressing (now in its second pressing) of 500 copies. Includes 4-pg liner notes by Pat Monaghan.

Highly recommended.

What we have here is one of the best albums of the nineties, by an Australian "super group" featuring ex-members of The Triffids (David McComb and 'Evil' Graham Lee), two thirds of The Dirty Three (Jim White and Warren Ellis) + bassist/main songwriter Phil Kakulas (who also was a member of The Triffids early on in their career) and vocalist Rob Snarski.

The Blackeyed Susans lineup has always been a bit shaky, but arguably this is the best one they ever had, mainly due to the amazing atmosphere that Graham Lee and Warren Ellis manage to create here; Lee with his lap and pedal steel guitars and Ellis with his violins, organs and other instruments.

The music here could be described as spooky/creepy alt. country rock, not unlike The Triffids or even Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. Song highlights include the insanely terrific and terrifying "A Curse on You" that gives me the chills everytime I hear it (again, thanks to Lee and Ellis), "Memories", a cover of the Leonard Cohen classic, where David McComb takes over the vocal duties, and probably the best track "Dirty Water" which again features some mad and excellent fiddling by Warren Ellis.