Black Love [CD]

Greg Dulli draws on his ever-present lyrical themes of love, sex, death, revenge and redemption to create a complex and evocative world of angry loners, jilted lovers and dark alleys. Opening with 'Crime Scene Part 1' and the awful cry of "Do you think I'm beautiful?/Do you think I'm evil?", and closing with the pure ray of light that is 'Faded', Black Love takes us through the groovy arson fantasy 'Going To Town', killer single 'Honky's Ladder', and the sparkling 'Step Into The Light'. Nothing is wasted; everything adds to the mood, builds on the story.

This is a perfect album: soulful and moving without resorting to cliche; aggressive and gritty without becoming macho; and complete in itself to make you want to ride the emotional rollercoaster again and again. Is it God or the devil at the controls? Who knows.

It opens with the cheery 'Crime Scene Part One', which initially sounds like Slint or Mogwai (well, Slint). A Spiritualized organ heralds Dulli's vocal- who is "saying goodbye to everyone who loves me". This is a dark give-it-all album, in the mode of Neil Young's 'Tonight's The Night'; but with the Whigs grunge-soul style (that sub-genre never really took off, sadly!). The song builds to a great pulse of drums, the saddest guitars howl- imagine Joy Division playing Curtis Mayfield...'My Enemy' speeds up proceedings, with a monster riff and a wall of feedback- not to forget a funkybassline. This is such a wasted song- the bridge ("The sun is gone") is shattering. As dark as the excellent 'Dust' by Screaming Trees...'Double Day' is a darker extension on songs like 'Be Sweet' and 'Fountain & Fairfax'- "Tonight's the night I take it home", Dulli screams...'Blame, Etc.' (great title) is closer to the sound of '1965'- a Bobby Womack/Curtis Mayfield/Baby Huey feel is captured. Imagine The Charlatans 'Tellin Stories' played by grungey-Americans!...'Step Into The Light' is one of Dulli's darkest songs- a dark countryish lull (with a hint of blues) down there with songs like 'Sadly Beautiful', 'The Lonely 1', 'Anodyne' and 'Come Pick Me Up'. The darkness has taken over; Dulli pleads for a return to light (which '1965' would deliver, to an extent)...'Going to Town' lets The Whigs indulge in a New Order style drum-track- very '1963' or 'Lonesome Tonight'. It's the most Whigs by numbers track...'Honky's Ladder' is much better- a dark funk- imagine Green on Red doing 'Dirty Mind'-Prince and you're near!...'Night By Candlelight' is a string-led ballad- close to the dark soulful sounds of Mark Lanegan...'Bulletproof' sounds like The Charlatans initially, it builds slowly to a funky riff- not far from earlier songs like 'Debonair' and 'Conjure Me'...'Summer's Kiss' is another Mark Lanegan sounding ballad- very 'Whiskey for the Holy Ghost' or The Gun Club's 'Fire of Love'...'Faded' is the epic finale, Eight-plus minutes of soulful goodbyes and woes. Close to Wilco's 'Amphetamine' or 'Sunken Treasure'. Or even Jeff Buckley's 'Dream Brother'. A fantastic riff takes us home, on this- one of the darkest soulful albums of all time. Hopefully in the future this will achieve classic status and a place in your record collection. This is the Whigs dark masterpiece- the one you HAVE to own.