Mojo Nixon And Skid Roper

This is the collection that started it all for Mojo Nixon, meaning this is the recording equivalent of the broken lock on the barnyard door. It reveals this dynamic duo at their vibrant best, putting across an instrumental conceit that weds a kind of old-timey instrumentation with a whisky-soaked, poetry-slam mentality. In one sense the duo can be imagined playing on a street corner in Atlanta in the '20s. Sure, sometimes it is over the top, and calling out the riot squad would be the best solution. "Mushroom Maniac," "King of the Couch," and the wild "Art Fag Shuffle" are some of the more enjoyable tracks. Moaning about some of this material being offensive is besides the point. Nixon's audience always hangs in a kind of delightfully confused limbo, laughing over the fact that someone else is offended until they are actually offended by something themselves. The workaday accompaniment of Roper is effective, and a regular straight man is an appealing part of the Nixon early days. But it is easy to see why he didn't need this regular partner in order to get his point across. Whatever that is. ~ Eugene Chadbourne