Golden Smog Blood On The Slacks CD

After an eight-year layoff that saw one of their members (Wilco mainman Jeff Tweedy) ascend to stardom, alt-country supergroup/side-project Golden Smog got back in the saddle with a vengeance, first releasing the full-length ANOTHER FINE DAY in 2006 and the eight-song EP BLOOD ON THE SLACKS just nine months later. BLOOD is more of a light-hearted affair than its predecessor, containing a faithful cover of David Bowie's "Starman," the space-age bossa nova instrumental "Magician," and the goofy garage-rock send-up "Insecure." The rest of the tracks follow the twangy, acoustic-flavored template set on previous albums, with echoes of the band members' "day jobs" in the Jayhawks and Soul Asylum. Tweedy is absent for this one, but the rest of the band generates so much creative energy that there's no noticeable hole.

Audio Mixers: Ed Ackerson; John Fields .

Recording information: Flower Studio, Minneapolis, MN; Paco Loco Studios, Puerto De Santa Maria, Spain.

Photographer: Jim Gavenus.

Golden Smog: Kraig Johnson (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, bass guitar); Dan Murphy, Gary Louris, Jeff Tweedy.

Personnel: Dan Murphy (vocals, acoustic guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, piano, background vocals); Gary Louris (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, Mellotron, synthesizer, glockenspiel, background vocals); Kraig Jarret Johnson (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, background vocals); Francis Salas (saxophone); Miguel Angel Muñoz (trumpet); Jose Guillanot (trombone); Marc Perlman (drums, congas, tambourine, percussion, background vocals); Peter Anderson (drums, percussion, background vocals); Linda Pitmon (drums); Ed Ackerson (percussion, background vocals).

No Depression (pp.85-86) - "On 'Tarpit', the band strips away Dinosaur Jr.'s distorted guitars and shuddering volume to find a quavering acoustic folk tune."