The Barnyard Playboys

DUMBASS ON A RAMPAGE

(Rubric)

This one's a country-punk masterpiece in the proud tradition of the Beat Farmers and the Supersuckers. It may be the kind of amphetamine-driven cowpunk that's been done dozens of times by dozens of other galloping one-trick ponies. But a good trick's a good trick, and the Playboys know how to work it for all its raucous rawk-and-roll fun. Ugly, sloppy, stupid, offensive, and loud, anthems like "Truckdriver Joe" and "Keep the Honkytonks Open" swagger with an evil grin and a three-day growth, badly in need of a shower. Singer/guitarist John Lyons isn't afraid to come straight out of the "Folsom Prison Blues" tradition when he sings "Used to be a hardworking, cooperative, all-American man" in "Mr. Coffee," and he sounds like the real thing. "Flat Buts and Beer Guts" is a working slob's fantasy acted out over a hyper blues riff with a protagonist who walks around "Winkin' and stinkin' like a big man should." Elsewhere, the Playboys throw a little surf guitar into the mix on "I'm Hurt, Let's Party," and then there's "Total Feces," a humorous spoken-word piece à la Metaphysical Graffiti-era Dead Milkmen -- proof, if nothing else, that some ponies have another trick or two up their sleeve.

-- Nick A. Zaino III