THE GUN CLUB - Mother Juno

LP / CD Red Rhino Records 1987



"Jeffrey Lee Pierce, for all intents and purposes, was the Gun Club. From his days as a peroxided, Debbie Harry-fixated Los Angeles teen-punk, through a lengthy era when he seemed convinced he could channel the spirit of Robert Johnson, to a more recent probe of the seedier side of continental balladry, Pierce - who died of a cerebral blood clot in Utah at the end of March 1996 - always presented a highly individual, albeit sometimes dazed'n'confused, vision of a soul in torment".
(Jim Green / David Sprague,Trouser Press)

"The Gun Club collapsed within a year of the release of 1984's The Las Vegas Story, so more than a few fans were surprised in 1987 when Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers returned with a new version of the band, featuring Romi Mori (Pierce's significant other) on bass and Nick Sanderson (ex-Clock DVA) on drums. Even more startling was that the group's comeback album, Mother Juno, was produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, who would hardly have seemed a likely choice to channel the Gun Club's fiery blues-punk assault onto vinyl. But against the odds, Mother Juno turned out to be one of the band's best albums; the hard rock overtones of The Las Vegas Story were replaced by a more direct, streamlined sound that suggested Miami without the twangy undertow, and while Bill Bailey and Thunderhead proved this band could rock as hard as they ever had before, Pierce's songs were also venturing into new musical territory, as evidenced by the slow, slinky R&B of Yellow Eyes, the atmospheric carnival-pop of The Breaking Hands, and the contemplative Port of Souls. And as a vocalist, Pierce's trademark just-off-pitch style had gained no small amount of nuance in the six years since Fire of Love, and whether he's shouting the blues or crooning sadly, Pierce shows he'd moved into a whole new class as a singer".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY


The Breaking Hands