Electric Six Fire CD

Detroit's Electric Six splice punk, new wave, disco, and arena rock into a total entertainment solution for the new breed of rock n' roller. 'This single is...pure driving disco-rock, complete with a new wave saxophone solo and ridiculous lyrics. Easily one of the best rock songs of the past year' - NY Times. 'Hold on, have the White Stripes gone Studio 54?' XL Records. 2003.

The Electric Six: Dick Valentine, Surge Joebot, The Rock-N-Roll Indian, Disco, M.
Additional personnel: Matt Aljain, Jim Diamond, Deanne Iovan, Rachel Nagy, John S. O'Leary, Aran Ruth, The Sheikh, Kenny Tudrick.
Recorded at White Room Studios, Detroit, Michigan; Abbey Road Studios, London, England.
Audio Mixers: Damien Mendis; Stuart Bradbury.
Recording information: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England; Ghetto Recorders, Detroit, MI; white Room Studios, Detroit, MI.
Photographer: Pieter M. VanHatten.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Dick Valentine; Tait Nucleus?; Aran Ruth; Disco; Deanne Iovan; John S. O'Leary ; Kenny Tudrick; Doctor Blacklips Hoffman; Frank Lloyd Bonaventure; Surge Joebot; Johnny Vegas Hentch; Jeff Simmons; Matt Aljian; Rachel Nagy.
Arrangers: Electric Six; Musiq (Soulchild).
Led by the lusty growl of Dick Valentine, the Electric Six recreate a 1970s dancefloor for rejects of both heaven and hell to boogie down upon. On a scandalous and smart 2003 debut, the Detroit band stirs metal, Southern rock, glam, and more, into a delirious post-punk stew, with lyrics of glorious nonsense such as "fire in the disco/fire in the Taco Bell." And the absurd lines are delivered by Valentine with such Bon Scott bravado and passion that it's near-impossible to divine just how serious is Electric Six. They're a graver Darkness and a sillier Tenacious D, a magnificent enigma with a genuinely fun first record.
If Electric Six never contributed anything to pop music besides "Danger! High Voltage" -- one of the most immediate, crazed singles in years -- the band would still have the distinction of being one of the most unique-sounding one-hit wonders in recent memory. Fire doesn't necessarily offer proof that this won't be Electric Six's ultimate fate, but it does suggest that they have more tricks up their sleeve than might be expected. It's true that "Danger! High Voltage" is easily the best song on Fire, an addictive mix of stylishness and silliness that sounds like some kind of bizarre love triangle between the Rapture, Tenacious D, and Andrew W.K., but several songs work nearly as well. "Dance Commander"'s big arena rock choruses, zooming keyboards, and yelped falsettos recall their big hit without merely copying it; "Improper Dancing" is surprisingly funky, with its brittle guitars and slick disco feel providing the perfect setting for the band's macho flippancy. "Gay Bar" is more on the garage/punk side of their sound, confusing war and violence with sex and dancing, with loads of adolescent sexual innuendo (but is there any other kind?), as is "Getting into the Jam," which is almost certainly not about discovering a classic mod-punk band. The power ballad "I'm the Bomb" might be the second-best song on Fire, awash in gurgling synths and shiny guitars as singer Dick Valentine shamelessly delivers lines like "Who elected you judge and jury in the body of a beautiful girl?" The rest of the album has an appealingly throwaway quality, spanning the new wave sendups "Synthesizer" and "Electric Demons in Love" as well as the campy arena rock of "Fashion and Vengeance" and "She's White." Though they're not on par with the band's best moments, they do hold up much better than might be anticipated, and prove that Electric Six's m.o. of inflating rock clichés to grotesque proportions, adding a dash of tongue-in-cheek pomposity, and then laughing at the results can generate more than just a great single. Granted, that single is still the reason to own Fire, but fans of that song probably won't feel burned by the rest of the album. ~ HRolling Stone (12/25/03, p.105) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2003"
Rolling Stone (6/26/03, p.78) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Dick Valentine screams about how sexy he is...while the other band members...blast their heavy guitars, sax and industrial-strength beats from the Taco Bell to the gates of hell..."
Q (01/01/04, p.77) - Ranked #30 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums of 2003" - "[C]amp metal floor-fillers."
CMJ (04/21/03, p.8) - "FIRE will serve nicely to satiate those who have been hungering for more from [Jack] Black's growling beast of a comic rock band, Tenacious D. Many, if not all, of the tracks here could pass for D compositions..."