Slobberbone
Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today (New West)
Slobberbone’s last release, Barrel Chested, admonished listeners to “remember it’s rock.” It was an irritated attempt by the band to jump off the alt.country bandwagon and pre-empt writers from throwing them back on. So, yeah, Denton’s Slobberbone is a rock band — a trailer-park one — and a no-bullshit rock & roll band at that. Despite that, their third full-length, Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today, seems to be moving closer toward the neo-banality of insurgent country kingpin Robbie Fulks, a songwriting style wherein the appeal is in the directness and obviousness of thought. “Gimme Back My Dog,” “Some New Town,” “Pinball Song,” as well as the duet with Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers, “Lazy Guy,” have all had their turns of phrase give way to straight shots. Maybe the band figured that telling people what to think is less effective and more trouble than letting them eventually figure it out for themselves. And they made it easy. Even the obligatory Replacements rip-off is as blatant as can be, right down to the title “Placemat Blues.” The irony is that, musically, Everything You Thought is the band’s most produced album to date. Sure, Slobberbone still sounds like the bar band that barely leaves the bar long enough to play, only now they probably have a bigger bar tab, so to speak.
This article appears in June 30 • 2000.