Louis Xiv Best Little Secrets Are Kept CD

Boasting the fermented wit of producer/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jason Hill and the sneering vocals of Brian Karscig, this California outfit excels at dirty, punky glam, served with no chaser. "Louis XIV" and "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" pay homage to everyone that ever sweated until their makeup ran down their face, then fell off the stage in 12-inch platform boots (Marc Bolan & T. Rex, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, et al). Most of Louis XIV's saucy debut EP, ILLEGAL TENDER, gets sewn into this long-player's silver-lame-stretched girth, as do some low-key numbers like "Ball of Twine" and "All the Little Pieces." Without a doubt, this is unfettered rock & roll perversion at its most entertaining--profane, energetic, and self-aware. THE BEST LITTLE SECRETS ARE KEPT would have been the best party record of the mid-'70s, but it showed up up three decades late, dressed to the nines, with an album cover so blatantly sexually that it's almost quaint.

Louis XIV: Jason Hill, Brian Karscig, Jimmy Armbrust III (bass guitar); Mark Maigaard (drums).

Personnel: Jason Hill, Brian Karscig (vocals, guitar, piano); Lindsey Troy (vocals); Robert Arthur Dodds (guitar); Clayton Bullock, Louis Caverly (violin); Michelle Negele (viola); Andrew Shulman (cello); Frank Palumbo (trumpet); Mark Anders Maigaard (drums).

Audio Mixers: Jason Hill; Matt Hyde .

Recording information: Chateau West, San Diego, CA; Grand Apartment, San Diego, CA; Royal Chateau, Versailles, France; The Grand Apartment; The Royal Chateau, Versailles, France.

Photographers: Smith Darby; Sam Buffa; Phil Mucci.

Additional personnel: Andrew Shulman, Robert Arthur Dodds, Lindsey Troy, Michelle Negele, Frank Palumbo.Rolling Stone (p.68) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[The album] pairs the thrilling hedonism of early-Seventies T.Rex and David Bowie with caroonishly sexed-up vocals that make winking fun of glitter rock's excesses."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[They] boast a certain louche wit..."