Refreshments Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy CD

The debut from this fatalistic foursome is a tour (de force) of the dark American underbelly. The Refreshments' upbeat, hard-edged roots rock serves as a foil to some decidedly pessimistic lyrics. The trenchant portraits on FIZZY FUZZY essay life on the bottom of the barrel. These are songs of the dispossessed, the disenchanted and the just plain dumb living lives of existential decrepitude.

The driving, guitar-driven "Blue Collar Suicide" finds the narrator detailing his lack of domestic bliss with lines like "I can't sleep 'cause she snores like a chainsaw." The song titles alone ("Down Together," "Suckerpunch") give a good idea of the high level of unhappiness so lovingly rendered throughout the album. The only relief in sight is musical, in the south-of-the-border feel of "Mexico" and the balladry of "Don't Wanna Know." On the barnburning "Banditos" the band poses the question: "Just how far down do you want to go?" Whatever the answer, you can bet the Refreshments will take you there.

Recorded at Ocean Way, Sunset Sound and Mad Hatter, Los Angeles, California.

The Refreshments: Brian Blush (guitar); Arthur "Buddy" Edwards (bass); P.H. Naffah (drums); Roger Clyne.

Additional personnel: Clif Norrell (trumpet); Skip Edwards (piano, Hammond B-3 organ).