Waco Brothers

ELECTRIC WACO CHAIR

(Bloodshot)

It's been said that the Waco Brothers will never duplicate the intensity of their live performances on a studio album. But to judge by this, the band's fifth CD, it's beginning to look as if they'll never live up to the soused barnstorming of their first few releases, either. Once a side project of long-time Mekons leader Jon Langford, the Waco Brothers have, over time, become more of a real band, which isn't necessarily a good thing when it amounts to sounding like standard-issue No Depression cowpokes. The material on Electric Waco Chair is rather diverse. Alternating, as always, between Dean Schlabowske's plaintive high-lonesome twang and Langford's Leeds growl, the band apply their roots-rockin' expertise to the tipsy waltz of "Never Real," the low, rumbling 12-bar blues of "Circle Tour" (guest vocals courtesy of label-mate and Pine Valley Cosmonaut Kelly Hogan), and one track, "Where in the World," that features guitars that bring to mind the fuzzy torpor of Freedom-era Neil Young. "It's Not Enough" pulls off that old C&W ploy of setting down-on-your-luck lyrics ("My paint is peeling/My nails all rust/At the peak of my popularity/I'm fading into dust") to an upbeat tune, and "Make Things Happen" features a nifty pedal-steel solo. It's proof enough that the Waco Brothers still have more kick than your average alt-country bar band. But as they've refined their craft, the energy level has sagged, and they've lost some of the raucous whiskey-soaked abandon that's always been a big part of the Waco Brothers' appeal.

-- Mike Miliard