Afghan Whigs

Sometimes, timing is everything. There are plenty of bands whose heyday was in the late-80s or early-90s who managed to pass me by and who, had I known them at the time, I may well have fallen in love with. Dinosaur Jr., Husker Du, Throwing Muses, Sebadoh, Afghan Whigs - bands whose work I was aware of on a fairly superficial level, but who never connected at the time in the way that, say, Buffalo Tom, Soundgarden, Sugar or Belly did.

I've got one Afghan Whigs album, 1990 release Up In It, and I suspect that had I owned it back in, say, 1992 I would now be writing about the Afghan Whigs in the glowing, fond terms I will one day use when writing about about Buffalo Tom.



Up In It is not without some pretty major flaws, but it's a good album, if maybe a little too much of its time - the overall sound is weak and scratchy by today's post-loudness-wars standards, and singer Greg Dulli's nasal stretches for higher notes (that he never quite manages to reach) get a bit wearing.  And that's a pity, as with a stronger sound and more melodic hooks, I could see myself coming back to this rather than viewing it as an artifact of an earlier, simpler time.

My favourite track is probably Son Of The South:

I love the point where the song's opening riff reappears about half way through.  A great moment.

Besides Up In It, I have one other track by the band, a cover of Frank Ocean's Lovecrimes. I must admit to being completely unaware of the original prior to hearing the Whigs version, so I was surprised at just how  stylistically different the two are and yet the cover does remain true to the original - it's an absolutely fantastic cover, regardless of whether you actually like the song (just as I argued about Adeva's Respect here).

You can, and should, download Lovecrimes for free from the Afghan Whigs website. 

The band split way back in 2001 and Lovecrimes is the second fruit of their recent (not their first) reformation. It's obviously a much more mature and polished work than Up In It and between the two, I've had my interest piqued sufficiently to want to explore at least one of their later albums.  Which is nice.