Has there ever been a rocker more comically perpetually unsatisfied than Gordon Gano? Nearly 40 years have passed since thedebuted their freaky, silly hybrid of folk and rock, and these days they’ve settled comfortably into a style that’s a bit like Bob Dylan meets Monty Python .
Much of the music sounds like stripped-back demos for a Fifties rock band, full of in-on-the-joke rock & roll clichés like silly call-and-response backup vocals and Roy Orbison–style throbbing guitar riffs. And when they go off book, they still keep it fun; one song, the a cappella “Sleepin’ at the Meetin’,” sounds like a scatological outtake from. Best of all they never linger too long on the jokes, keeping the songs mercifully short and enjoyable.
But just to keep listeners on their toes, it’s not all funny business. He’s also capable of aching sincerity, like his commentary on terrorism , and too-close-for-comfort irony They’re still fun and vital, and they still know how to make an exit.