VARIOUS ARTISTS – WE ARE ONLY RIDERS – THE JEFFREY LEE PIERCE SESSIONS

To send someone unsuspectingly toward The Gun Club is inviting trouble. During the 80s and early 90s The Gun Club and their singer-songwriter Jeffrey Lee Pierce were an uneasy mix of country goth and swamp blues, with a decidedly urban underground edge (read considerable drug and alcohol intake and the sometimes associated unsociable behaviour) that made them influential in the decades to come but distinct outsiders at the time. This collection of songs was found on a demo tape by former Pierce collaborator Cypress Groove, and interpreted by Pierces former colleges and followers. Deborah Harry, Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Lydia Lunch, Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell all make appearances. Cave is rightfully the lead-off man with a suitably imposing Ramblin’ Man and Harry’s Lucky Jim is outstanding. Most songs get one of two very different airings, and it is not always the stars who shine brightest, there are killer efforts from Crippled Black Phoenix with Bells on the River and The Sadies’ Constant River. This is an excellent introduction to an under-rated songwriter who continues to grow in stature.

****