Mojo Nixon "Whereabouts Unknown" 1995****

I didn't know what to expect from this CD. I used to have some tracks with him and Skid Roper on 80's compilations, most of which I sold during the Great Vinyl Purge. I liked them OK but not enough to seek their individual albums. Then I came across a 2nd hand copy of this CD and decided to buy it, if only out of curiosity to hear Mojo's cover of a Smiths song. It proved better than expected: there isn't a single dud in the whole album, and while the lyrics are purely satirical the band seriously rocks. The music is nothing original, of course, but since when is rock'n'roll only about originality? There are elements of psychobilly, blues, punk and country with Mojo's gruff voice halfway between a leering punk and a classic blues shouter. I guess his closest musical cousins are Reverend Horton Heat. Opener "Gotta Be Free" is a garage/R&B stomper, while "Not As Much As Football" is a strange kind of love song (he loves his girlfriend more than a whole lot of things, just not as much as football). Like other songs here, it has an infectious chorus that makes you want to sing along, and wild rockabilly rhythm you want to dance to. The next two songs ("Mr. Correct" and "Buck Up & Stop Your Whinin'") are pure electric blues, followed by a bonafide protest song: straight country "My Free Will Just Ain't Willin'" it's about the first Iraq War, and while it was released after its end, it fits perfectly the second Iraq invasion that lay in the near future. Even the quip "I ain't gonna be George Bush's whore": another president, same name. "Girlfriend In A Coma" is a rockabilly riot, with Mojo lampooning Morrissey ("that fruitcake from The Smiths") just like he did in former albums with other pop stars ("Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with My Two-headed Love Child" and "Don Henley Must Die"). "Pleasurelegience" is a gospel tune praising drinking and fornication instead of The Lord, and "Don't Ask Me Why I Drink" a great punkabilly rocker. "My T.V. Is Watchin' Me" (mid-tempo) and "Take A Look In My Eyes" (turbo-charged) are Cramps-like psychobilly, and "Tie My Pecker To My Leg" a filthy country barn-burner written with Country Dick Montana from Cow-punkers Beat Farmers. "You Can't Kill Me" is a country rocker set to the tune of the hymn "Amazing Grace", and the album closes with folk ballad "If I Can Dream". The great thing about this album is that, while the jokes get less funny with repeated listens, the music is so upbeat and fun that you just don't get tired of it. At least I know I haven't.

**** for Not As Much As Football, My Free Will Just Ain't Willin', Girlfriend In A Coma, Don't Ask Me Why I Drink, Tie My Pecker To My Leg

*** for Gotta Be Free, Mr. Correct (Don't Tell Me What To Do), Buck Up & Stop Your Whinin', The Pleasurelegience, My T.V. Is Watchin' Me, Take A Look In My Eyes, You Can't Kill Me

** for If I Can Dream