PALADINS "Million Mile Club" 4AD, CAD6015CD/46367
You know 4AD is expanding their net when they sign greaser hot rod buffs like the Paladins from San Diego, California. Recorded live in such after-hours hotspots as The Belly Up Tavern and the Fort Spokane Brewery, this trio guitar, double bass and drums kicks the door down, turns your stereo up and drinks your liquor before splitting with the silverware. Guitarist Dave Gonzalez's gritty, blusesy vocals can seem somewhat one-dimensional over a whole album, while the band's sloppy-drunk-with-funk approach is hardly new, but when it works - as on their cool cover of "Let's Buzz" or their own "Years Since Yesterday" - it works well. There are many English bands who would kill to swagger like this. *** Sid Griffin
as reviewed in Q Issue 124, January 1997