*** The Asylum Street Spankers
SPANKER MADNESS
(Spanks-a-Lot Records)
It doesn't take much effort to figure out the concept behind this Austin
combo's fourth album. The title alludes to the public-service anti-drug movie
and cult classic Reefer Madness, and the songs are all about
recreational drug use. The fiddle-accented, country-flavored "Winning the War
on Drugs" mocks current government and legislative tactics as facile and even
hypocritical. "Wake and Bake," a ragtime jamboree with cackled, lovy-dovy lines
like "I gaze into your eyes so red," is more indicative of the album's simple
lyrical agenda: fun. This is no ordinary tale of reefer madness but a fine trad
blues, country, and hot-jazz recording put together by top-notch musicians (a
Spanker is someone who can play an acoustic instrument both vigorously and
proficiently). The subject matter might wear thin at times, but the wit and
wily musicianship make Spanker Madness more than the sum of its various
drug jokes. Plus, "Beer," with its slapped bass and picked banjo, extols the
virtues of a hops-based beverage rather than a hemp-based plant.
-- Linda Laban
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