Keep On F****n' In Paris!

Album Review

Love them or lambast them, Nashville Pussy are pretty much what true rock & roll has always been about: sonics that appeal to the inner beast, and a general disregard for conformity and correctness. NP music is basic raunch, and this four-piece outfit comes across as something of a trailer man's AC/DC. But that's okay. What they do, they do well. And when they deliver it live they hold nothing back. Therein lies the merit of this concert DVD recorded in 2002. Blazing through 16 of their best-known cuts — and not a ballad among 'em! — the sweat flies and the juices flow. Apart from the film editor's near-pathological penchant for quick cutting, this is an excellent visual document of a hard-working, unpretentious band in full cry. Shamelessly provocative (if you hadn't already guessed from their name), they rip through a ballsy set which includes such high-octane treats as "Let's Ride" and the irresistible "Gonna Hitchhike Down to Cincinnati and Kick the Sh*t Outta Your Drunk Daddy." The Southern boogie of "High as Hell" is a highlight, but the cover of AC/DC's "Shot Down in Flames" finds the band setting themselves up for failure and achieving it. The hands-down star of the show is lead guitarist Ruyter Suys, a feral seductress who plays a mean SG (yes, the guitar of choice of Angus Young) and shakes her golden mane convulsively. By show's end she's down to her underwear and happier than a politician in a pork barrel. And it wouldn't be a Nashville Pussy show if lead singer (and Suys' husband) Blaine Cartwright — possessor of the grubbiest voice this side of Lemmy from Motörhead — didn't help his spouse perform her famous f******o-on-a-beer-bottle-while-playing-a-solo routine. No, this one's not for the kiddies. The Parisian audience — mostly black t-shirted males (surprise, surprise) — is into it all the way, and that adds to the DVD's energy. And energy is the operative word here. For those music fans who still believe in the primal forces of rock & roll, Keep on F*ckin' in Paris! is where the meat meets the seat.