Pussy Galore- SUGARSHIT SHARP ep (Matador Records, 1998)

Matador Records did the world a great service in 1998 when they reissued all of the P.G. records. As cool as i thought the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was when they first came on the scene in the early 90's I still never thought they held a candle to P.G. Most of their records were issued on Caroline Records and while my favorite full-length of theirs was RIGHT NOW! (which came out before this) this EP was just as hot and maybe hotter as they had streamlined their songs into these garage punk nuggets with plenty of hooks and Spencer's classic, trashy howl. Longtime guitarist Neil Hagerty wasn't in the band when this was recorded but replacement Kurt Wolf stepped in and ably filled his shoes (Spencer and Julia Cafritz also played guitar and ex-Sonic Youth guy Bob Bert was on drums, no bassist). The records starts off with two covers: an earth-shaking cover of German industrial band Einsturzende Nuebaten's "Yu Gung" and a tweaked reading of Devo's "Penetration in the Centerfold." Next up is one of the band's greatest moments , the driving, forceful "Handshake", followed up by the slurry stumble of "Adolescent Wet Dream." Tune five, Sweet Little Hi-Fi" , takes no prisoners while "Brick" speeds up some old blues riff and scores a strike (no spare needed). The record ends with another near-perfect burner in "Renegade." After this the band released a few other (lesser) records and then called it a day. These days Spencer is in Heavy Trash, Bob Bert occasionally publishes the great BB GUN zine (and is most likely in a band or four) and Julia Cafritz is in Free Kitten (andposts daily on Facebook) and I think Kurt Wolf is missing in action but the four oF them made pure magic on SUGARSHIT SHARP.