Horehound
Third Man
By Eileen Tilson
In Latin, Lucifer means “Day Star” and is
linked with pre-Christian story that Lucifer rose early and was the shiniest
star in the sky, outshining Jupiter and Saturn, and then would disappear before
the Sun came up. The story, of course, has evolved into Lucifer as the archangel
who tried to make his throne higher than the clouds, and got banished from
Heaven along with his followers. But what if Lucifer just got a bad wrap, and
instead, choose to set up his own camp and live by his own rules. The Dead
Weather worships this religion, and in the Gospel according to Jack White,
Lucifer is a woman named Alison Mosshart.
The Dead Weather – Jack White's collaboration with The Kills’ singer Alison Mosshart, Queens of the Stone Age
guitarist Dean Fertita and Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence – is a collection of four truly talented minds combining their powers and presenting fans
with a razor sharp, swampy gothic blues record, whose apostles include Hendrix,
Page, Harvey and Bonham, and their communion consists of bourbon and cigarettes. In
no way is this a single-driven CD; instead it is raw, sexually charged and
trashy, thrashing the airwaves with the talent of a supergroup.
"60 Feet Tall" opens up with crazy distorted guitars
reminiscent of the days when Jimi Hendrix had sex with his guitar during the
“Star Spangled Banner.” “Cut Like A Buffulo” is a gothic Rasta prayer with an
electric organ pounding in the background and Alison shrieking “You know I look
like a Woman, but I cut like a buffalo.” “Rocking Horse” is the soundtrack to a
dirty old western movie, including PJ Harvey-esque shrieks, gun slinging
guitars.
The taboo video for the single “Treat Me Like Your
Mother” has Mosshart and White walking toward each other in black leather jackets,
before open firing upon each other with machine guns, while spelling out
M-A-N-I-P-U-L-A-T-E. After Mosshart kills off White, it's time for
the epic finale. They wail, "Just because you caught me/Does that make it a
sin?" Listen to this album while
drinking absinthe; Horehound is worth following these fallen stars
straight to hell.
