Fallen Angel

#		Title	Length
1		Mortal Remains	6:20	Play
2		Propagandise	3:48	Play
3		He's A Fool	3:35	Play
4		Heavenly Eyes	4:53	Play
5		Going Down Fightin'	3:49	Play
6		Desperate	3:19	Play
7		In The Dark Of The Night	3:24	Play
8		Fallen Angel	5:50	Play
9		Future Part Two	2:46	Play
10		Half Good Half Bad	2:39	Play
11		Stranded Again	4:11	Play
			44:34

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Description

It's mean, it's nasty, it's loud - and it's occasionally tender. It's the sound of The Chucky Monroes, the latest addition to the inspired, uncompromising roster of artists on Laughing Outlaw Records. And it comes in the form of the astonishing debut album, 'Fallen Angel'.

Produced by the rather legendary Tony Cohen (you know, he of Nick Cave and The Cruel Sea fame), 'Fallen Angel' is a confrontational, take-no-prisoners rock'n'roll-meets-theblues-in-hell type of record that is guaranteed to frighten small children and their parents.

The creators of this sonic mayhem are Muzza (vocals and guitar), Al (slide guitar), and Simon Cox (drums). Muzza and Al started playing together a few years back, initially more as a hobby than a professional outfit. At the time both Al and Simon were playing in Tumbleweed. Simon has also played with Died Pretty, Ed Keupper and Juice.

Some eighteen months ago, friends of the band persuaded them to move from living room and back porch gigs to pubs. They recorded a home demo and began playing around the handful of venues in Sydney and Wollongong where independent and original music is encouraged.

Influences? Well, ask the Chuckies and they'll throw names at you like Greg Brown, Tom Waits, Chuck E Weiss, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Ry Cooder, along with older performers such as Fred McDowell, Rev Gary Davis and Joseph Spence.

Many bands claim to have a 'unique' sound. Please believe the brains trust at Laughing Outlaw when we say the term is accurate when describing The Chucky Monroes' primal throb. They've set out to craft a BIG SOUND. The circle of sound created by the trio covers most of the frequencies such that they don't feel they need a bass player. Their sound swirls, pulverises and demands attention. Think Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound meets the blues.

The Chucky Monroes' 'Fallen Angel' is a recording the likes of which you won't hear from any other band this or any other year. You have been warned.

REVIEWS

"The Australians pioneered this sort of twisted blues and rock combination, starting as far back as bands such as The Beasts of Bourbon, Scientists, or Harem Scarem from the early '80s. And they still do it better than Anyone else. With vocals that sound like a slightly less derelict Tom Waits and slithering slide guitar that ranges from the feel of early ZZ Top to, well, Beasts of Bourbon, these guys carry the torch for the Oz tradition of emotionally disturbed trailer trash rock in fine style." - The Big Takeover

"When grievous angels get the blues, call the Chucky Monroes. Sans bass, this torrid trio of duelling slide guitars and drums walk the dark corridors of the American roots-rock landscape with a brooding, minimalist, nihilistic bravura. Lead Monroe Muzza's baritone slithers through repetitive riffs rendered in slovenly tempos, detailing a world gone wrong, bad women and life as viewed from the bottom of a shot glass. "Goin' Down Fighting" and "Mortal Remains" each have sinister melodies and beguiling harmonies while slumbering rockers such as "Half Good Half Bad" and "Stranded" shake, rattle and roll over dead. When you reach the end of the line, you can always find solace with Fallen Angel." - Amplifier

"Goddaaaaaamn, this is sexy! Big fat rolling waves of sexiness washing over your body. I'm not kidding - it's that kind of sound and it's that kind of CD. This is real 'lock up yer daughters and stand guard on the porch with a shotgun' stuff. Muzza is Tex Perkins' darker, dirtier cousin who will take your hand and lead you astray. Astonishingly, this is The Chucky Monroe's debut release. Their previous credits include Tumbleweed, Died Pretty and Juice, and that experience shows. The title track, Fallen Angel, is a smooth late-night number, when you're near the end of the whisky bottle, the night is still and hot and you can't hear a thing for the cicadas. Pour another drink. On the rocks, of course. The final track, Stranded Again, is the perfect combination of good booze, great music and steamy nights. I think I need to be alone now." - redbackrock.com

"Laughing Outlaw Records tell us that this debut by the Chucky Monroes is 'guaranteed to frighten small children and their parents." The strange thing is that, although it scared the hell out of me at times, my young(ish) son and his friends all thought it was great. I've not heard any of them play it alone yet though.

The sound that this Australian trio makes is a strange, unique hybrid of blues, roots and Goth. It simply throbs with menace. It sounds so dark and evil it's not until halfway through the album that one realises that the band, Muzza on guitar and vocals, Simon Cox on drums and Al on slide guitar, have no bass player or, in fact, that the bass is missing. So deep is the sound just the three of them produce it's not noticeable that there is no bass player in there.

Muzza doesn't so much sing his way through the eleven originals here as rasp his way through. You thought Tom Waits growled his way through songs? Compared to Muzza's bourbon-drenched drunken vocal contributions here Waits could almost be in your local church choir.

Produced by Tony Cohen (Nick Cave, the Cruel Sea) this really is an album that stands apart from the crowd. It's unlike any album I've heard before and, until the band enter the studio again, am unlikely to hear again.

That a trio can make such a dense and brooding sound is remarkable. Some of the credit for this must be placed with producer Cohen, who was an inspired choice for the job, but each member of the Chucky Monroes excels at their given task. Take the title track, 'Fallen Angel', Muzza's slurred vocal delivery of lines such as "No wings no heaven, fallen angel can't fly, here in devil's playground I was left high and dry" is chilling and, when you add the haunting slide guitar from Al and what sounds like wind blowing through darkened woods on a particularly cold night it is not only powerful but downright scary!

The Chucky Monroes have come up with a sound that is impossible to put into any genre. It's original and there are not that many bands one can say that about this far down the rock and roll road. Their music has been likened to that of Tom Waits, Ry Cooder, Jon Spencer and even The The. I feel that the roots of their music (and it is their music, there may be traces of any of the above in there, but they are minute traces) can be traced back to the delta blues of Robert Johnson. And if Johnson's pact with the Devil at the crossroads has any truth in it then what the hell have these guys done?!

For all the uneasiness buried in their music and it's lyrics this collection is a surprisingly accessible piece of work. It's not a mash of unstructured sound. There are melodies here and they are not buried in the sound. It's just that they are unsettling melodies that demand your attention, grab you by the throat and won't let you go.

It took one listen of the first track, 'Mortal Remains', for me to realise that there is something special going on here but it is not easy to pinpoint exactly what makes the album so appealing. It's a bit like being on the biggest roller-coaster ever. It's scary and you want to get off but when you do you only to want to get straight back on again. That's how it's been for me with this record. It's a sound, that on paper, at least, that I thought would not appeal to me at all. But I'm glad that I had the opportunity to listen to it. I return to this album more and more. It stands up to repeated listening and always offers up something new with each play.

A blues album for those who don't like the blues and I'll be surprised if I hear a more chillingly beautiful song than 'Heavenly Eyes' all year." - Pennyblack Music Website
"Produced by Australia's own Phil Spector, Tony Cohen, Fallen Angel is the debut release from The Chucky Monroes. Never heard of them? Well if you've heard Tumbleweed or Died Pretty, then you've heard members Muzza, Al and Simon who've played in or with them over the years. And just as Tumbleweed broke down preconceptions of how an Australian band should sound, so too do The Chucky Monroes, despite the goddawful moniker. Influenced heavily by southern US grind blues yet pumped out via a Marshall stack set to 11, that's the best way to describe opening track "Mortal Remains". Cut to track 4, "Heavenly Eyes", and we're given a melody line reminiscent of the Animals on "House of the Rising Sun", a drunken slur of a guitar strum, shot in the back by a slide guitar and a remorse-ridden vocal drawling, "those eyes, those eyes" and then, "shining in the darkness like burning lights/ only to be put out by losing my sight." Ouch. This is no Silverchair.
There's something rectum-wrenching in Muzza's voice, so deep it touches bass where nary a guitar has ever roamed. In "Going Down Fighting" he's got the swagger of a Tex Perkins or a Jon Spencer, but there's a vulnerability, a fear there the others can't find, and the mayhem created as guitar, slide and drums thrash together is held tightly together, but only just. Bruised ballads, ball busters and bourbon soaked blues rock. A fine way to start the year." - Logged Off Website

"Dark and dense, Fallen Angel is as good as any Alt. Country album out of the States and will find its way across musical genres into the world of the Goths where, in fact, it really belongs. The Chucky's are a power trio, two guitars and drums (no bass - they don't need it!) who are produced by Tony Cohen (Nick Cave and The Cruel Sea). Often you're listening to drums, electric guitar with an acoustic playing rhythm and it's surprising how huge this combination can be. I love this release and if you ask me "why?" then I'll say "because the band sound like a close relative of The The, one of my favourite groups of all time." Muzza, lead singer, whispers out the chilling lyrics with a style close to Matt Johnson and the guitars, whether slide or straight, are pure Johnny Marr. Fallen Angel is as dark and intriguing as Dusk, so unless Matt comes up with a collection of Jimmy Rogers songs this could be the misery album of the year. - NetRhythms Website

"The Chucky Monroes have managed to create an album that, although it is their first, sounds as if it the penultimate release of a band that has been playing together in dingy bars and darkened Mississippi hotels for at least the last twenty years. "Fallen Angel" is an album that smoulders, that slowly but surely gets up from its knees to throttle you with a grimy slide guitar. The band has no bassist - and thank god for that. Vocalist Muzza's Perkins-esque growl provides just enough low-frequency sounds to keep the ears straining and the lips curling in a blues-provoked snarl." - BMA Street Press, Canberra

"A debut that's "guaranteed to frighten small children and their parents", this one is the result of a collaboration between two ex-members of Tumbleweed (Al and Muzza, both on guitar here) and a drummer who's played with Died Pretty and Ed Kuepper (Simon Cox). Add legendary Aussie rock producer Tony Cohen to the mix and you've got a record that's in the mould of Beasts of Bourbon at their most bluesy. Muzza growls like Tex did in the old days and the strung-out guitar hangs heavy over a hollow drum sound. Don't know about frightening, but it's a pretty good imitation of the Beasts' balance of threats and seduction." - Time Off Magazine
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