Ass Ponys
Lohio
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This raggedy cincinnati four - piece crafted a distinctive sound in the early Nineties - a rootsy jangle battered by mild dissonance and some artfully flubbed notes. But by 1996, with two brilliant A&M discs having stiffed, the Ponys disappeared into the cutout bin of history. Last year, however, an unexpected reunion introduced new guitarist Bill Alletzhauser, who tied together their album Some Stupid With a Flare Gun with thickly cabled power chords. On Lohio, singer Chuck Cleaver's teetering falsetto has aged into a surprisingly sturdy warble, reminiscent of the Band's Richard Manuel, while never allowing his fascination with the natural world to get in the way of a good joke. On "Last
Read More Night It Snowed," he muses upon a row of "powdered sugar cedars," observing, "They look good enough to eat, but I don't think I would/I can't imagine that they'd taste too good." Drummer Dave Morrison knows his Band records, too (his playing can recall Levon Helm's stagger), but it's his explosive rolls, suggesting Keith Moon at his most scattershot, that propel the Ass Ponys into heavier realms than ever before. KEITH HARRIS
(RS 874 - August 2, 2001)
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