Sunday, June 27, 2010

L7: Hungry for Stink (1994)

(As published in the Illinois Entertainer ... )

L7
Hungry for Stink
(Slash/Reprise)

Two of these songs--"Stuck Here Again" and "Fuel My Fire"--capture L7 at their hell-hath-no-fury best and manage to pay homage to X, Girlschool, and Janis Joplin simultaneously. The other highlight, "Riding with a Movie Star," is what the Ventures would sound like if they were women whose lives were living hells. Like the Breeders' "Cannonball" but with fewer words, "Movie Star" is punk-metal James Bond surf boogie for our unkinder, ungentler times. But most of the album is sloppy and rife with confessions like "I haven't changed my clothes in weeks / I'm wallowing in my own stink / My ass is sore from lyin' in bed / Am I alive or dead?" Good thing this album wasn't released in scratch-and-sniff.

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