Deep Throats 'Good Bad Pretty' (ALBUM REVIEW)

"There’s rawness encapsulated throughout these songs redolent of perhaps a blend of Stooges, Cramps, Femmes and Pussy Galore at their collective madcap pomp..."

‘Good Bad Pretty’ is a compendium of ten final recordings released by Castle Face from 90s underground garage band Deep Throats, hailing from the bohemian underbelly of California’s golden gated city. These days with technology far more accessible, it’s great that bands like Deep Throats can actually end up with something tangible to show for all the time they spent together writing rehearsing and gigging, and what a glorious racket this trio make, although after listening, you may want to step in the shower!

On hearing the 90-odd second opener ‘Good Bad Pretty’ starting with Ron Draino’s simple yet sinister bass line, Sugar Fixx’s primal drumming and Tracy Lourdes skittish guitar, one of my sons (4 years old) started pogoing around the room like Iggy Pop, removing his t-shirt in the process and spinning it round his head, decisively answering the question posed by the song’s lyrics, namely “Why do the good kids want to be bad?”

There’s rawness encapsulated throughout these songs redolent of perhaps a blend of Stooges, Cramps, Femmes and Pussy Galore at their collective madcap pomp, as next track ‘Eyes’ provides the listener with another dose of B-Movie punk, Fixx and Lourdes twin male/female vocal assault combining to ramp up the Bonnie and Clyde partners in crime effect . ‘Way I Move’ is dissonantly bonkers whilst ‘2 Hot 2 Handle’ sounds like it was recorded in a cupboard.

‘Good Bad Pretty’ also contains a clutch of extended works, grubby stop-start epics brutally drawn out like wire as the band members collectively lay themselves bare. Examples include ‘Last Request’ with its abandoned warehouse feel and clearly audible broken bottle percussion, followed straight afterwards by the 6½ minute spook-athon ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ containing the rallying cry for disaffected youth “Hey kids, come together, we can learn to love each other”.

‘Where’s the Party?’ proves to be a paranoid sleaze-ball of a track before things truly descend into chaos on ‘Dirty Secret’ before the shudderingly climactic riff arpeggio in closing number ‘Prove It’, leaves the listener looking for the carbolic soap and a wire brush.

One thousand per cent rock and roll, Linda Lovelace would certainly have approved.

Words - Mike Price

Good Bad Pretty is released on March 18th via Castle Face Records

Deep Throats Facebook

Tracklist:

 1. Good Bad Pretty

 2. Eyes

 3. Way I Move

 4. 2 Hot 2 Handle

 5. Last Request

 6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

 7. Creature Feature

 8. Where’s the Party

 9. Dirty Secret

10. Prove It