Them Wranch

Medium Rare (Orange)
by Jon Sarre

So where do these guys get off? Hint: It’s not at yer stop. Mebbe not mine either, cuz I only take the bus to work and that’s just been recently cuz I’ve been waking up in strangers’ beds which’ve been far from mine so I gotta stand around squinting until the mass transit vehicle lumbers up and I feed the dollar I just borrowed from whatshername into the slot. I figure Them Wranch drive a van cuz bands do things like that. It doesn’t look good to show up to the gig on a bus unless it’s a tour bus like the Supersuckers’ got and these cats got the ‘Suckers beat down real good and I don’t even think they own cowboy hats (at least no one’s wearin’ one on the cover). Not like Eddie Spaghetti and his gang are a good starting point to start talkin’ about Them Wranch, tho’ Wranch’s got their country moments and their rockin’ moments (sometimes in the same song, even), they also got their soul moments all cluttered up with the garage thrift store approach they take to their idea of what rock’n’roll’s supposed to be about – it’s electric, I mean eclectic, sayeth some chick on someone’s answering machine at the end of the record.

What ya got basically is cast-off cuts copped offa Davie Allin fuzz and Flo and Eddy bup bups (“Love on Fire”), Keith Moon fills circa the first or second Who record coexisting with double entendres (or mebbe they’re just talkin’ ’bout their van [“Tune Up”]), some stuff that’s ripped offa somethin’ but it’s too over before I can figure out who ripped off that Yardbirds riff first (“Snakebite”), Mick Jagger imitating Buck Owens (“Head Cast”), slow move bump’n’grind over sweet spot ‘tween her thighs (“Easy to Tease”), soultyme nighttrain Stax grooves (“Dark Circles” and “Vegas Rose”) and Big Boy Crudhop crossed with Crypt Records exile-in-Hamburg DM Bob (“Tell Me Once More”). Elsewhere, Them Wranch is high in the saddle with pure winning lines like “Why do I always think too much?” (“Get Me Off This Planet”) and “Don’t give me no new bills/I like the old fashioned kind” (“I Need a Priest” – onea them songs about absolution, or mebbe somethin’ close like sarcasm). Then there’s “(You Make Me Feel So) Smoky”‘s spun off spun out strung out passed up passed out on bad vibes and to top it off, yer clothes smell like smoke. Kinda like when I ride the bus. (Orange Records of San Diego obviously does not want you to contact them by mail. That is why they do not include an address. However, if you still wish to contact this fine label you can dial up
(www.orangerecordings.com)