Congo Norvell - The Dope, The Lies, The Vaseline (1996)

Congo Norvell - The Dope, The Lies, The Vaseline (1996)

“A player of stunning force and imagination" - Robert Palmer, The New York Times



"The songwriting of Kid Congo Powers and Jeffrey Lee Pierce has the freshest white take on the blues of it's time." - Jack White



" Screw James Brown. The title of Hardest Working Man in Show Business truly belongs to Kid Congo Powers." - Kurt B. Reighley, Seattle Weekly

The gigantic tone of Kid Congo Powers’ open-tuned guitar is one of the more readily identifiable sounds in the history of underground rock. Best known for his contribution to the development of the contemporary ambient, noise, and rock guitar with The Gun Club, The Cramps, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the 1980s, Kid’s spent the last fifteen years as a sideman (Make-Up, Mark Eitzel, Angels of Light, etc.), as a partner in Congo Norvell and Kid and Khan, a member of garage rock supergroup Knoxville Girls, and, most recently, the leader of Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds.



What’s important about Kid’s resume isn’t only that he played with some of the best bands of all time, but that he did so during their finest hours, from The Cramps’ Psychedelic Jungle to Nick Cave’s Tender Prey to Angels of Light’s How I Loved You, Kid’s always had a knack for being with the right people at the right place at the right time. The last five years however, Kid’s gradually quit relying on his luck and taken matters into his own hands, emerging as a world-class songwriter and a distinctive vocalist.



Jump-starting his career when he and Jeffrey Lee Pierce formed The Gun Club in 1979, Kid Congo Powers left the obscure new band in late 1980 when he was offered the universally coveted gig replacing Bryan Gregory in The Cramps. Though Kid was already a Cramp when The Gun Club recorded their classic debut Fire of Love (1981), a number of songs that he helped write and develop appear on the record. Kid wound up in The Cramps throughout the peak of their popularity, leaving the band in 1984.Psychedelic Jungle (1981), Smell of Female (1984), and Bad Music For Bad People (1984), are among Kid’s souvenirs of the era. After rejoining The Gun Club for a 1984 Australian tour, Kid stayed in the picture for their The Las Vegas Story (1984). When the band fell apart the next year, Kid moved to London and played with The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, The Beasts of Bourbon’s Tex Perkins, and his own band, The Fur Bible.



In 1986 he was invited to join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for the Your Funeral, My Trial tour – moving to Berlin and becoming a full-time member until 1990 - appearing in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987) and on the albums Tender Prey (1988) and The Good Son (1990). During his German years Kid not only played and recorded with Die Haut, The Butcher Shop, and Barry Adamson, but also embarked upon seven years of constant recording and touring with The Gun Club.



In 1993, Kid Congo Powers made his final appearances with The Gun Club and Die Haut to devote full-time attention to his own project with actress/chanteuse Sally Norvell - Congo Norvell. After the duo released a string of singles, EPs, compilation tracks, and the success of the LP Music To Remember Him By (1994), Priority signed them to record The Dope, The Lies, The Vaseline (1996) for Priority's 'alternative' label, Basura!.



Shortly afterward, the news came out that Priority was closing down the Basura! label, without releasing Congo Norvell's The Dope, The Lies, The Vaseline . Apparently, all that got out were 400 or so promo copies of the album.



And because you've all been good boys and girls, Uncle artpepper has a copy just for you. Hope you love this LP as much as I do. Phone someone who broke your heart and play "Cruel" down the line at them and remember, kids: don't forget to turn it up to 11...



1. Husbands (4:17)

2. You Can Lay with Dogs (5:01)

3. Wailing Woman (4:40)

4. The Girl Who Would Be King (4:22)

5. Summer Nights (3:18)

6. November (The Ballad of Mark and Travis) (4:21)

7. Thief (6:12)

8. Goodbye Song (3:44)

9. Cruel (3:16)

10. Murder (5:36)

11. L'Amour (3:15)

12. Lullabye (5:07)



MP3: Variable bitrate (242.0kbps average)