In his early days he was taken under the wing of heavies like Gibby Haynes (who produced 1993's The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat) and Al Jourgensen (who produced 1994's Liquor in the Front). He has sinced moved on to an ongoing relationship with veteran producer Ed Stasium. Although albums helmed by Stasium typically sound like they were recorded on one microphone in a parking garage, in the case of the Reverend this actually works, since Stasium's simple bass-drums-guitar-plenty o' reverb setup gives added dimension to the band's attack.
Despite the discovery of these heretofore unsuspected depths to Jim Heath's psyche, Revival is still vintage Heat. He still plays guitar like a demon, spraying notes like a firehose over top of Jimbo Jones’ slap bass and Scott Churilla’s metalbilly drumming. As usual the Reverend raises a respectable ruckus, and as usual by song number fifteen the well has run a little dry.
The newfound depths suit him well, but for all its strengths, Revival is less consistent than some of his older albums. If you’re a fan it’s worth having, but if you are new to the Rev, there is no beating the manic punch of The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat. Kudos to Yep Roc for landing the Reverend, but if they have another record in the contract, next time their A&R department should hold the Rev to a dozen great songs total.
Article comments
1 - mrbenning
I was always curious who would win in a Brian Setzer vs. The Reverend guitar off. I'm a little biased, but I'd say The Reverend.
2 - Johno
My money is on Brian Setzer, who has the fastest hands on a Gretsch I've ever heard... the Rev has his rockabilly, but sometimes Setzer channels Django Reinhardt. Of course, this is all moot as soon as the Reverend hits ol' puffy Setzer over the head with a bottle. Or they get drunk together. One of which would happen, no doubt.
3 - Temple Stark
And oin this one I'd already done all the work on it before I realized it was an old release. Still, I noted that there and published anyway.
I moved this up and over to Advance.net, which includes these places.
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Thank you for the post. - Temple Stark