Jeff Dahl

All Trashed Up (Triple X)
by Jon Sarre

Vox Pop founder, occasional Angry Samoan and, by now, solo “name” to be reckoned with by some, Jeff Dahl‘s been around the block more times than most have been around, and maybe that’s part of the problem. I’ve never been able to get into the guy’s stuff, no matter who’s playin’ with him (past collaborators have been everyone from ex-Germs to the Candy Snatchers; this latest outing finds him with a Beat Angel and the Sin City Girls rhythm section). I always wanna like Dahl’s stuff, cuz he seems to have good instincts. The execution just misses more often than not. On 1987’s I Kill Me, for example, which featured Cheetah Chrome, the Lazy Cowgirls’ Pat Todd, three-fifths of the Angry Samoans, and Dead Boys and Iggy covers, ya gotta wonder how could he miss, but he did somehow, cuz that record’s not so great.

As for All Trashed Up, it’s a bit better than all right: ten tracks of ’70s punk with nods galore to James Williamson and Johnny Thunders. All good, but the tracks don’t stick out. There’re elements here and there, “Shake Appeal” oohs in “Kingdom of Kicks,” over-amped Chuck Berry riffs on “Desert Roses,” and lines like “bathing in your sin” on “Ain’t Life a Bitch.” Dahl never goes inaccessible, a good move, I suppose, but aimin’ too low doesn’t help him any. Yeah, that’s rock’n’roll, but, at the same time, it’s not supposed to blend into the room like aural wallpaper.
(PO Box 862529 Los Angeles, CA 90086)