Johnboy Langford and his Wobbly Bottom Boys are back in action — term used loosely, as “action” in the Wacos’ world is generally squinted at from under a dive’s table, flat on one’s back. Seriously, the Pogues ain’t got nuthin’ on these inebriates. Yet somehow when it comes to getting the musical job done, the Waco Brothers don’t require any propping up, which is why, one supposes, with a Wacos album you’re really only getting half the story. Listening to the band on disc, away from the confines of smoke, sweat, beer and crappy interior lighting, is a strangely chaste experience.
That said, even if there are no surprises on the sixth Waco Brothers studio record, New Deal holds its own. The best songs are positioned up front: “Poison”, a rollicking slab of glass-hoisting choogle-boogie invoking images of “half-breed tunes” being played “in noisy border towns” and featuring some outrageous brass honk courtesy “Waco cousins” Dave Crawford and Paul Mertens; “No Heart”, a lament for how “these good times are going to kill me” featuring one of the most pulse-quickening, clanging guitar riffs emitted by Englishmen since the first Clash album; and “In The Honky-Tonk Shadows”, a “long, long story” about “a love like diamonds” that gets deep-sixed, as these things tend to happen, by booze (the twin fiddle and pedal steel melodies are there to ease the pain).
The rest of the album spins off variations on these themes, with twisted lyrics part of the package, and occasionally makes you wonder if the Wacos are running short on ideas (though there’s also a gorgeously smoky country-blues ballad called “New Moon”). No matter; the next move for the band has to be a triple-disc live set to silence any naysayers. Include a shot glass with the limited-edition version, gents.
