Lambchop Hank CD

Lambchop: Kurt "Hanck" Wagner (vocals, guitar); Paul "Hank" Niehaous (lap steel guitar); Deanna "Henrietta" Varagona (baritone saxophone); Jonathan "Henery" Marx (cornet); John "Henry" Delworth (organ); Hank Tillbury (glockenspiel, synthesizer); Marc "Buddy Hank T" Trovillion (bass); Allen "Hank" Lowrey, Paul "Willie Hank Paul" Burch (drums); C. Scott "Hank" Chase (percussion).
Recorded at Alex The Great Recording, Nashville, Tennessee on July 4, 1995.
Personnel: Kurt Wagner (vocals, guitar); Paul Niehaus (slide guitar); Deanna Varagona (baritone saxophone); Hank Tilbury (synthesizer, glockenspiel); Allen Lowrey, Paul Burch (drums).
Audio Mixers: Hank; Kurt Wagner.
Recording information: Alex The Great Studios, Nashville, TN.
In hindsight, the seven-track Hank EP would seem to herald the conclusion of Lambchop's "straight" country period -- assuming, of course, that songs with titles like "Poor Bastard" and "I Sucked My Boss' Dick" could ever be considered pure country in the first place. The impossibly lush production which buoys tracks like "I'm a Stranger Here" and the gorgeous "Blame It on the Brunettes" screams Billy Sherrill, however, and the melancholia which permeates the disc is the stuff of which endless nights in smoky honky-tonks are made; ultimately, in their own singularly bizarre way, Lambchop has made what might just fly in under the radar as a classic country record, provided no one listens too closely. Of course, with the subsequent Thriller, they produced the most dissonant and difficult album of their career, kissing fame and fortune goodbye forever. Nashville's loss, not ours. ~ Jason Ankeny
This is music by which to drift down river, cowboy hat on head, open beer in hand. Weeping steel guitars, subtle percussion, dreamy, reverbed guitar lines, and Kurt Wagner's frail, weary voice all combine to create a gentle, though surprisingly compelling, investigation of the place where country/folk meets clever, almost psychedelic atmospherics. The HANK EP distills the group's aesthetic into six textured, tasty cuts.
While Lambchop's finely honed sense of irony strays a little too close to yuk-yuk territory (as in the seventh track throwaway, "I Sucked My Boss's Dick"), their shortcomings are counterbalanced by an ability to create poignant and often poetic vignettes. Such songs as "I'm A Stranger Here" and "Blame It On The Brunettes" paint heartbreaking stories in warm, muted colors and showcase the band at their best.Q (8/96, p.122) - 3 Stars - Good - "Lambchop's large line-up, minimal country-tinged drawl and general earthiness has captured some attention recently....the end result is surprisingly powerful with Kurt Wagner's vocal developing a world-weary storytelling edge."
Uncut (p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] peculiar combination of the smoothly contemporary and the creakily archaic."
Option (9-10/96, p.119) - "...[the] tunes are heartbreakers every one, but...this uninterrupted bout of melancholy makes for a satisfying and uplifting listen....songs drift lazily along in a haze of understated guitars, off-key horns and beats that sound like they were recorded in a basement two houses down..."
Melody Maker (8/6/86, p.46) - "...They just seep through the walls and gently insinuate themselves into your life, the haziest mass of steel guitar curlicues and muffled percussion hovering by the windows, Kurt Wagner singing like NASHVILLE SKYLINE-era Dylan or Vic Chesnutt. You can't tire of such quiet persuasion..."
NME (Magazine) (7/6/96, p.37) - 8 (out of 10) - "...[HANK] retains all the components which made...such a brilliant record: the droning steel guitars, the barely audible whisper of Kurt Wagner and the sedately maudlin songs which seemingly take an eternity to unfold..."