[.ca] Cats And Dogs

From Amazon.com:
Since their early releases were so disjointedly frazzled that the phrase "better living through chemistry" suddenly sounded like a ruse, it was quite a surprise when Truxsters Jennifer Herrema and Neil Hagerty found their groove on this 1993 release. Yes, it's still shaky and slurred, but with distinct elements of Exile on Main Street-era Stones and unreconstructed biker rock thrown into the mix on tracks like "Skywood Greenback Mantra" and the hazily uplifting "Let's Get Lost." Hagerty's playing--an eye-opening fusion of Neil Young lope and Magic Band-derived jitters--is plenty bracing on its own, but when wedded to Herrema's dissipated, bluesy rasp, the effect is truly galvanizing. Keep on Truxin', indeed. --David Sprague

Possibly their best album...:
This just might be the best Royal Trux album. It is Royal Trux at their most critical moment, when they'd ascended to the highest possible heights of street cred, but (supposedly) after they'd left their drugged up lifestyles behind. Its spooky and moody and filled with wonderful sludgy guitars and half mumbled vocals, and yet immaculately produced. They perfect an inspired loose-then-tight-then-loose-again sort of approach to all the songs on this album. Its like playing the sad biker blues in the dust at Altamont. Neil Hagerty would later characterize it as a "faux grunge" record. "Teeth", "The Flag", "Friends", "Skywood Greenback Mantra", "The Spectre", "Turn of the Century", "Let's get Lost", and my personal favorite, "Tight Pants" are all classics that you must hear if you like rock and roll music. "Driving in that Car (with the eagle on the hood)" is the spookiest song ever. Not spooky in that over-the-top, blood splattered, Marilyn Manson sort of way, but spooky in an eerie, backwoods, mysterious ritual sort of way. Its creepy the way grainy 16-mm film footage can be creepy. Like the demented teenagers in that movie, "Gummo". Freak out your girlfriend some night by lighting candles, pulling out a ouija board, and playing "Driving..." in the background.

Obsolescent Americanism: Democracy Educated:
*Cats and Dogs*, the first fully-composed record by Royal Trux, found them in fuller form than "fans" would have previously thought possible; and in this and subsequent works we have something like the postwar "utopia" the United States is fully capable of sustaining. The cast of characters is rich and partially non-human: Jimmy *avec* bad-looking hat is worth having around, as is the car (with the eagle on the hood) and a heuristic bruited of by the Trux in this "worsted" wool. Do you need harder realities than those dealt in by Hagerty and Herrema (the "fifth tenor")? No, no you don't, and the mere fact that their music has been produced at all (with Speedos, with casino backing, in a polling booth, with *that* history of lies) testifies to an enduring moment in a *habitus* which has been taken for careless at best and ugly at worst. If you've ever been to an off-base cafeteria or a mess you didn't know, you already know this material by heart, and perhaps even if... it's okay: there are only so many things that can be done with a couple of live bodies, after all. For people out of sorts.

Good Stuff:
Cats & Dogs is a kick ass record by Royal Trux. Most of the songs have got a killer groove. You'll like it. Trust me.

A perfect 90's record:
RTX is a genius band. If only because no underground rock band has so deliberately constructed such a compelling image - a fascinating hybrid of nyc heroin chic, john coltrane/captain beefheart free noise pretention, and New Yorker intellectualism. But gol' darn if this ain't a beautiful record full of swagger and ramshackle beauty. As challenging and full of implications as Pavement's early singles. As good as Beggars Banquet. Better even.

...somebody with dead feet / shouldn't walk out on a limb...:
i bought all the RTX records at around the same time, and this one actually took awhile to grow on me, but in the end it's become my #1 favorite. the music is sparse, but tuneful - every instrument can be heard crystal-clear, unlike the later albums which are thickly produced (but they're great too). and it's soft, but hard. my faves are "Teeth", "The Spectre", "Let's Get Lost", "Turn of the Century" and "Skywood Greenback Mantra". but the whole thing is perfect from start to finish. "The Flag", "Up the Sleeve" and "Hot and Cold Skulls" kick major ass too. these days i mostly just listen to various mix cds i've made of the band, but i can always put this album on and never get sick of it.

• Teeth
• Flag
• Friends
• Spectre
• Skywood Greenback Mantra
• Turn of the Century
• Up the Sleeve
• Hot and Cold Skulls
• Tight Pants
• Let's Get Lost
• Driving in That Car (With the Eagle on the Hood)