Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains

Album Review

Would-be New Bomb Turks completists who've been looking for some stray B-sides and EP tracks that have emerged since the 1995 odds and ends collection P*****g Out the Poison: Singles and Other Swill will be glad to know the fine folks at Gearhead Records have been doing some of their work for them. Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains gathers 16 non-LP New Bomb Turks cuts, ten of which have never been released before and the rest of which appeared on various small-label singles or European EPs. If you're at all familiar with the New Bomb Turks by this time, you know what to expect — lots of high-power guitar rave-up from Jim Weber, with Eric Davidson making like the world's coolest smarty-pants on vocals and Matt Reber and Sam Brown kicking them in the butt on bass and drums. There are a few surprises here, though — the sorta-jazz coda on "Bad for Me," a midtempo instrumental called "Sammer'd," and a goodly portion of covers as the Turks pay homage to the Devil Dogs, Joy Division (or more appropriately Warsaw), X (the ones from Australia), Aerosmith, and the Painted Ship, among others. There's plenty of high-quality pedal-to-the-floor punk rock here, and if it isn't the most consistent set the Turks have ever put out, if you're at all hip to their program you'll like it a lot. In short, this one's for fans, and they'll be plenty satisfied.