Record Reviews

The Standards

Between the Ditches (Abel)

Could it be? A band with enough jive and sneer to sink the Flametrick Subs? Like their Black Cat brethren, the Standards prowl the back alleys of River City with reverb-drenched swagger, genuflecting at the altar of the Blue Moon Boys while singer Dana Shepard's voice drips with enough sarcasm to make Violent Femme Gordon Gano sound like Bob Newhart. As such, they're more Bloodshot than Sun Records, with an obvious debt to Jon Langford and the Waco Brothers surfacing on "15 Minutes," "Pretty," and a couple of other places. "Tooth and Nail" hums along on the melodic tracks of the old classic "Freight Train" and some sweet female background vox; "One Wife" uses a tasty dobro to add zest to lyrics like "first we tied the knot, then we had this little snot" as Josh Williams' upright bass thumpity-thump-thumps along like Frosty the Snowman (nice breaks on "Virginia Jane," too). "Whatcha Gonna Do" is a little Reverendy (think "Big Sky"), but it's only right and natural for a song about jacking a liquor store. All in all, a satisfyingly seedy -- yet still reverent -- collection of rockabilly hot as the flames on a '57 T-Bird and cooler than the other side of the bed. Satan's Cheerleaders' contract must be up soon ...