1965

This is a wondrous album. It swaggers, swoons, soars, shakes, rattles, rolls, smashes you in the face and then helps you up again and snogs you.
I've read these guys were called the 'Motown Nirvana' when they were still around... I'd say thats fair. But personally, it sounds as if Jack Nicholson suddenly found he could sing and decided to front the Stones. How is it that this band don't turn up in '100 best albums' polls and suchlike?
I know every note and cadence of 1965 by heart and it still thrills me to bits every time I hear it. 5 Stars.

'1965' was the last album from the Greg Dulli-fronted act the Afghan Whigs, one of the two most misunderstood American rock acts of the 1990s (the other was Screaming Trees). Both bands were sadly tainted by an association with the generally terrible grunge genre - which is a shame as both acts produced at least three great albums apiece. Following debut 'Up In It', Dulli & co released three classic albums in the form of 'Congregation' (1992), 'Gentlemen' (1993), and the dark 'Black Love' (1996). Between these releases came several singles and e.p.'s, notably 'Uptown-Avondale' (1992) with its stunning soul cover versions. 'Black Love', probably my favourite Whigs album, found Dulli in a dark place - as the title would suggest - and he set about following it up with an equally dark work. Addiction, depression and illness were rumoured to be the order of the day and night, the album he worked on was eventually shelved - making you think of albums like 'Homegrown' and 'Tonight's the Night' (that proposed album came out in a re-worked/re-mixed version as the Twilight Singers debut album '...As Played by the Twilight Singers').

Dulli & co seemed to want to deliberately move in the oppposite direction, heck it was the end of the century after all - '1965' was deliberately retro and intended to be a lightweight party record. Which I guess makes it the Whigs' 'Give Out But Don't Give Up'? - expect with songs...maybe it's more Dulli's 'Greetings from New Orleans'? I wonder if Josh Rouse's recent '1972' was influenced by this album? & it should be noted that Big Star/Box Tops legend Alex Chilton is one of the many guests here, playing a role similar to that he did on The Replacements' 'Pleased to Meet Me.'

Compared to the preceding Whigs-trio, this is lightweight stuff for the most part - like Tim Buckley's 'Greetings from LA', it all seems to be about sex and good times (notably single 'Somethin' Hot' and '66'). Then again, there are plenty of druggy references, and some great classical/jazz-inflected parts on songs like 'Citi Soleil' and 'John the Baptist', so maybe it's not as shallow as it seems?

'Crazy' is hypnotic stuff, while 'Uptown Again' and 'John the Baptist' tap into a blaxploitation vibe, and acts like Curtis Mayfield and Shuggie Otis. 'Citi Soleil' taps into the same New Orleans vibe that Dr John the Night Tripper did on the classic 'Gris-Gris' album, certainly the best song here and up there with earlier Whigs' joys such as 'Miles is Dead', 'Tonight', 'Fountain & Fairfax', 'Be Sweet', 'Crime Scene Part One' and 'Step Into the Light.' The album is bursting with energy until we reach the Dulli/McCollum co-composed 'Slide Song', which shifts back into the bleak mode of 'Black Love' and is another highlight...

'Neglekted' has more of those soulful backing vocals that remind you of 'Exile'-Stones and is another more downbeat moment - it's another one of those records that puts current Primal Scream in context. It strikes me that '1965' is the album 'Riot City Blues' has tried and failed to be...The album concludes on two songs that are fused together, 'Omerta' (Dr John does 'Sympathy for the Devil'?) and instrumental 'The Vampire Lanois' - the latter is composed by the band and sounds like an elegy for the soon-to-cease-to-exist band as much as the record...

'1965' didn't have much success, despite a hint of hype and a memorable TV appearance on CD-UK - it would be reissued as a budget price album a few years later, much like Screaming Trees' classic 'Dust.' Ho-hum...with Dulli back on top form with the recent 'Powder Burns' by Twilight Singers and a mooted collaboration with former Screaming Tree Mark Lanegan, it's time to go back to see if the earlier stuff stands up. & it does. '1965' is kind of classic, not as great as the preceding trio, but great all the same - at the very least, it's one of the great party albums. Discover/re-discover, I dare ya!!!!

This is the Afghan Whig's finest hour without a doubt. Thisalbums as much soul and sexiness in it as any Motown record could ever have had. This is their fifth album and one of the best you will hear they start with 'Somethin' Hot' which is a sexy little number that sets the tone for the album. Greg Dulli is without doubt one of the best songwriters around to day and this album shows us all that fact. The next two songs on the album are 'Crazy and Uptown Again' it shows that the album was recorded in New Orleans they have a blues theme to them and burst and crash with rhythm. Songs that will also make you want to buy this album are 'John The Baptist and Neglected' which are extremely well put together. This is a contender for album of the year.