The Sales Bros.
Hired Guns (Perseverance)
Reviewed by Greg Beets, Fri., Aug. 1, 2008
The Sales Bros.
Hired Guns (Perseverance)Although best known for backing Iggy Pop and David Bowie, Austin-based drummer Hunt Sales (he of the "Lust for Life" intro) and his guitarist brother Tony pay tribute to the Stax/Volt renaissance on this previously unreleased 1979 demo. Recorded in a Beachwood Canyon, Calif., basement that had once been a swimming pool, Hired Guns mines a sound right out of time. The sons of Soupy accent blue-eyed soul rave-ups such as "Buzz in Your Hive" and "My Baby" with subtle garage rock gnashes, reconciling the Sam & Dave legacy into the heart of L.A.'s late-1970s power-pop explosion. It's not a perfect fit, but the call-and-response playfulness of "Someone's Gonna Lose" and James Brown-style pleadings on "Let Me In" are oddly endearing. Sadly, the Sales Bros.' soul-revue ambitions were derailed by Tony's near-fatal car accident right after their debut engagement at the Starwood, leaving Hired Guns as a fond footnote to history.