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Little Animals | Beasts Of Bourbon
Albert | 23rd April

Review by Jen Jewel Brown

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Sounds like … what every housewife’s locking herself in the bathroom over.

The Beasts burst out from Sydney’s underbelly with 1984’s The Axeman’s Jazz (Red Eye Records) and have just signed to the hardest-to-get label in Australia, Alberts. Founding Beasts Tex Perkins (vocals and front-man duties) and Spencer P. Jones (guitar) survive, and are joined by lead guitarist Charlie Owen, and Tony Pola (drums) and Brian Hooper (bass) of The Surrealists.

As far as albums go, ‘Little Animals’ is one live son-of-a-bitch. The lightning-fast 10 track set was recorded in three days at New Market Studios in North Melbourne, and was co-produced by the band’s live soundman Scritch. Spurning overdubs, it’s magnificent wrecked electric blues, raw and swaggering, shot-through with chaos theory solos and splattered with lyrics to stick in a censor’s craw. Drug mentions? Little Animals is more like a customs officer’s check list. Hell, these guys are even packing epidurals!

The Beasts’ are both catchy and classic, the Kinks and The Faces, only 50 times more malevolent. Opener ‘I Don’t Care about Nothing Anymore’ could have been written by the late Ian Rilen (Rose Tattoo, X) to whom this album is dedicated. The title track ‘Little Animals’ is a Kurt Weill-style lament for species deceased, showcasing the depth and sophistication of the band. Like something from a Tony Award-winning Broadway play, it is moving, ironic and extraordinary, the perfect vehicle for Perkins’ rich, growling croon.

The caged animals on this bleeding-rare and ready studio record remain a fearsome proposition live – Henry Rollins was raw with admiration when he introduced them at Big Day Out 2006. If they don’t drink or rouse each other to death on tour in Europe, I can’t wait to hear what they come up with on the Alberts label next.

8 out of 10