一聽音樂網

Lambchop 來自美國田納西州的 Nashville 市 － 一個以鄉謠音樂聞名的地方 － 而他們玩的亦正是鄉謠音樂~ 把 Lambchop 稱之為 “樂隊” 似乎低估了他們的勢力, 因為這個由 Kurt Wagner 帶領的 “團體” 足足有十四位成員, 幾乎是一般樂隊的好幾倍~ 2000年的 “Nixon” 雖然被 NME 點名大贊, 但查實 Lambchop 在美國方面 alternative country 界的名聲, 卻早已自96年的 “How I Quit Smoking” 和98年的 “What Another Man Spills” 等出色的作品確立下來 Touted as Nashvilles most f*cked-up country band by their label Merge Records, Lambchop was arguably the most consistently brilliant and unique American group to emerge during the 1990s. Their unclassifiable hybrid of country, soul, jazz, and avant-garde noise seemed at one time or another to drink from every conceivable tributary of contemporary music, its baroque beauty all held together by the surreal lyrical wit and droll vocal presence of frontman Kurt Wagner. Although Lambchops ever-rotating roster would later expand to over a dozen members, the group formed in 1986 as a simple three-piece teaming Wagner, guitarist Jim Watkins, and bassist Marc Trovillion, former high school classmates already ten years removed from the educational system. Originally dubbed Posterchild, the trio made its earliest recordings in Trovillions bedroom, self-releasing a series of cassettes with titles like Im F*cking Your Daughter. In time, the lineup began to grow and the band regularly performed live in and around the Nashville area, often at the area record shop, Lucys (not coincidentally owned by Wagners wife, Mary). In 1992, Posterchild — now consisting of Wagner, Trovillion, guitarist Bill Killbrew, clarinetist Jonathan Marx, multi-instrumentalist Scott C. Chase, drummer Steve Goodhue, and percussionist Allen Lowery — released An Open Fresca + A Moist Towlette, a split single with friends Crop Circle Hoax. The 7 brought the group to the attention of entertainment lawyer George Regis, who issued cease-and-desist orders on behalf of his clients, the noise pop band Poster Children. After rejecting the names REN, Pinnacles of Cream, and Turd Goes Back, the band settled on Lambchop, added vocalist/saxophonist Deanna Varagona, steel guitarist Paul Niehaus, and organist John Delworth, and signed to Merge to release the 1993 single Nine. Their debut LP, I Hope Youre Sitting Down (aka Jacks Tulips), followed a year later. In many ways, this album would be the most conventional Lambchop record. Its Nashville origins and torch-and-twang ambience would saddle the band with the increasingly erroneous alt-country tag, although Wagners Lou Reed-like vocals and bizarre narrative conceits — in particular the fan-favorite Soaky in the Pooper, a vivid recounting of a bad LSD trip — immediately signaled their obvious distance from the likes of Uncle Tupelo or the Jayhawks. The lovely How I Quit Smoking appeared in 1996 (although on the subsequent Cigaretiquette single, Wagner would proudly announce, Im smoking again). Recorded live the previous Independence Day, the Hank EP followed later in 1996. Marking the debut of drummer Paul Burch, the disc represented the apotheosis of Lambchops Billy Sherrill-inspired phase, its lush production evoking the Nashville sound so popular three decades earlier, but now completely passé among Music Citys chart superstars. 1997s Thriller proved a major turning point; highlighted by the Muscle Shoals soul of Your Fucking Sunny Day and including no fewer than three songs penned by East River Pipes F.M. Cornog, this sprawling, difficult album introduced the uncompromising eclecticism that would dominate Lambchops work from here on out. The follow-up, 1998s What Another Man Spills, upped the ante further; for remarkably soulful covers of Curtis Mayfields Love Song (Give Me Your Love) and Frederick Knights Ive Been Lonely for So Long, Wagners baritone drawl even gave way to a Prince-like falsetto. That same year, the group also backed Vic Chesnutt on his album The Salesman and Bernadette. Lambchops fifth full-length, Nixon, appeared in the spring of 2000. Supposedly a concept album exploring the presidency of the infamous Tricky Dick, Wagner even included a bibliography in the liner notes — a direct connection to the Watergate scandal remains unidentified. Though still criminally unknown at home, Lambchop enjoyed a much more substantial following overseas, and on May 13, 2000, they appeared at the London Royal Festival Hall; the gig was recorded and made available at U.K. appearances that fall as the Queens Royal Trimma limited-edition EP. (A 2001 European tour yielded the Treasure Chest of the Enemy EP.) The 2001 collection Tools in the Dryer assembled many of Lambchops scattered singles, compilation tracks, and remixes. After recording the purposefully spare Is a Woman in 2002, Wagner and company moved on to their most ambitious project yet — two simultaniously released albums, Aw CMon and No, You CMon, in which Lambchop was returned to full power and joined by a lush string section. The next year the musically experimental EP CoLAB came out, followed in the spring of 2006 by The Decline of Country & Western Civilization, Pt. 2: The Woodwind Years, an eclectic collection of tracks that had never appeared before on Lambchop records, including one new song, Gettysburg Address, and a record of all new material called Damaged later that summer. In addition to Lambchop, several members of the group pursued side projects. Burch led his own band, the WPA Ballclub, Varagona released a fine 2000 solo record, Tangled Messages, and Mark Nevers led CYOD. Wagner even teamed with Josh Rouse for the 1999 EP Chester.