It's 2019 and The Murder City Devils remain in the list of occasionally active bands I'd love to see but still haven't (along with Snapcase, Hum and The Blood Brothers - the list hasn't changed in years, despite all four playing shows in US in recent years. One day I'll see them and I'll hopefully have a great time).
In Name and Blood was the last of the original Murder City Devils albums I got (The White Ghost... hadn't been released and they were very much broken up when I was getting into them). I got Thelema, Empty Bottles and the live album, R.I.P., in 2005/2006 and loved them. A while later I found the self-titled album and it became a stable in the kitchen of our house in Cardiff - that album acted as a little revival of the band for me and I was very pleased to find this album in Spillers one day early in 2009. The albums had been reissued on coloured vinyl and I was very pleased to add it to my collection.
I knew a bunch of the songs from R.I.P., but there are some great songs that weren't played at that last show - Bunkhouse with it's excellent chorus ("If you don't think that cowboys cry / Then you ain't never heard a cowboy's song"), Someone Else's Baby and Fields of Fire. Of course, Press Gang, Idle Hands and Rum to Whiskey were all highlights from the live album, particularly the last one, so I knew them well. There's also a couple of covers thrown in - Neil Diamond's I'll Come Running (for some reason) and two much-more on-brand Misfits covers - Hybrid Moments and She, although the latter is not listed on the sleeve. Goes without saying that MCD's organ-heavy sound and The Misfits make quite a pairing.
The band had a slight stylistic shift over the years, so much so they considered the Thelema EP part of the reason they broke up, but it's a very gradual change - in my mind (and ears), the self-titled album and Thelema are the extreme ends, but Empty Bottles and In Name and Blood are quite similar and a very strong pair of albums. All that said, if you like any of their music, I can't see you not liking the rest.
Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 18/03/09
Colour: White and red splatter
Etching: Side A: "Look upon your city, enjoy the sight..." Side B: "For it will soon be rubble and bleached bones"
mp3s: Download code
