It's nice to see this is back out on vinyl. There's a couple of reasons for this. 1 - It's a really kick ass album. 2 - I didn't have it. so now that whole situation has been rectified, thanks to Melanie at Music Saves, who let me pick this out for my birthday present. Which gives me another opportunity to tell you, that if you don't have a record store that you go to regularly, that gets all your special orders and where even when you want something they probably wouldn't carry you order it from them, then you're completely screwing up. Sure, I go to other record stores, but I spend 75% of my record money here at Music Saves. Because when you do that, you get taken care of. You get taken care of even if you're a new or sometimes customer too, but if you have a regular record store that knows you, you will find out about bands you didn't know you liked and you'll once in awhile even get something like a birthday present. If you're in Cleveland and you like the Rock that leans Indie, like me, Music Saves is your best bet. But there's other places like My Mind's Eye in Lakewood and Square Records in Akron that will treat you as much more than an order number or auction winner. So get your ass to your local record store and hang out a little and start buying your records there. Even if they cost an extra buck or two, there's no shipping costs and best of all, there's no waiting.
Now what about Flat Duo Jets? They're Dex Romwebber on guitar and vocals and Crow on drums. Jim Dickinson produced and played some piano, but it's mostly just two guys. Cuz that's really all it takes to make a hellacious rock n' roll racket. It's not hard to describe Flat Duo jets' sound. It's very stripped down, sort of rockabilly howling. Jim Dickinson's production is pretty sparse and this album sounds like it was recorded in a small room. It's stereo, but it's very narrow and almost mono. But there's so little instrumentation that I suppose you couldn't expect more.
What always got me about these guys is that there's just no way they could have ever expected to get rich and famous doing this. I'm totally cool with that, because it's obvious that these guys are making music for the sake of making great music. I don't want to get into discussions of sincerity and integrity. I think these guys have plenty of that, but I think the reason this record exists is because they like these songs. Flat Duo Jets Anthem kicks things off in a frantic style, the type of which would make the White Stripes famous. You can hear the influences of Flat Duo Jets on every White Stripes album, and if you like those albums, you really should check these guys out. It's just fun from start to finish.
The covers are something else. I'd never expect to hear Apple Blossom Time or Frog Went A Courtin' on a rock n' roll record, but here they are. And they're great! Romwebber has a great voice for rock n' roll, and he pulls these covers off in unexpected ways that really work. My favorite cover on the record is easily You Belong to Me. I think I always like this song, from everyone that's ever done it. From Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps to Deer Tick. But I love the sparseness of this version and Romwebber's voice best of all, I think.
When that song finishes, we get kicked into high gear for Frog Went A Courtin' and that pretty much seals the deal for me. It's just on my list of great albums from here on out. This is rock n' roll at it's most elemental, and it's irresistible if you ask me. I love that these guys have so many covers mixed in with their great originals, and I usually don't need too many covers. But it's not like you get to hear these songs all the time, and it's even less frequent that you hear them this raw. It's really great stuff and I hope you can get a copy before it goes out of print again.
The record itself is on Jack White's Third Man Records label. First of all, I think it's great that jack is pressing records. It's obviously a labor of love, and I like Jack because he takes on labors of love and seems to be able to make money and be successful with them. Third Man records are usually heavy vinyl, and have great covers, on nice stock. They don't sell their records cheap, but they also don't give you junk. The inner sleeve has an anti static plastic lining the paper on this and the record itself is thick and heavy. However, I've found every Third Man record I've owned tends to be noisy, especially between tracks. Don't get me wrong - they sound excellent when the music is playing (Flat Duo Jets will never be mistaken for an audiophile recording, but for what it is, it sounds really good). I don't know why it seems like that's the way they are, but I haven't found one yet that's just quiet vinyl. There's no clicking and popping, it's just kind of noisy. But again, the record is heavy, the cover is gorgeous and I wouldn't trade my copy for anything.
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