Jail Weddings – Inconvenient Dreams (CD, US)

The vinyl edition was available from the Jail Weddings official shop for $9.99 (download is $2.99) and on CD for $7.99 from larecord.com.

“White Noise is proud to present the biggest record yet—a one-sided five-song 12” EP, following up two 7” singles—by Jail Weddings, one of L.A.’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll bands including ten ferociously incandescent personalities and enough sax and violins for a pre- Technicolor Hollywood epic. It could have come from Memphis—it’s produced to gourmet Jim Dickinson-ian standards by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s Russell Simins—but instead (and even better) it’s from right here.

Singer Gabe Hart spent eleven years in front of the much-missed Starvations, the L.A. four -piece that brought the spirits of Sun Records and Dangerhouse Records both back to life on a Hollywood side street before a swan song in 2005. After time leading several ex- Starvations as Fortune’s Flesh, Hart debuted the nine-piece Jail Weddings—including then and now members of the Flash Express, Watts Ensemble, the Grand Elegance and more—in 2007 and roared into 2009 with an expanded line-up and two lovingly reviewed singles. “Nothing short of stupendously brilliant,” wrote L.A. Times and Examiner.com writer Jason Gelt.

The new Inconvenient Dreams EP takes the indomitable spirit of Rock ‘n’ Roll-era Mekons to X’s Los Angeles with Norma Desmond élan and wall-of-sound production to satisfy Phil Spector (in happier times) and get Lee Hazlewood planning an answer record. It’s the same territory traced by Sam Fuller and John Fante and the same doomed-and-loving it—or at least living it—mood that found an uneasy home in the most outré radio hits of the ‘60s. Lou Christie, Scott Walker and Joe Meek all might appreciate.

Singers Jada Wagensomer (per Chandler: “A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window…”) and Katya Hubiak (per Spillane: “This vision in a low-cut dress who threw a challenge with every motion of her body…”) dive in for lead turns and dissolve back for beautiful ooh-la-las whenever Hart drops his guitar and leaps into his own lyrics. There’s room back in the balcony for Roy Orbison and Ronnie Spector and Elvis Costello and the Misunderstood and Bruce Springsteen and Mary Weiss all to squeeze alongside each other and watch and remember how they did this in their own wilder days—rock ‘n’ roll with no net and no limits and nothing that isn’t about to leap off the record and through the nearest glass. Like the grand finale warns or possibly teases—“I am fucking crazy—and now that you know, what are you going to do?””

Gabriel Hart
Katya Nadia Hubiak
Jada Wagensomer
Brad Caulkins
Hannah Blummenfeld
Brian Watson
Joshua Puklavetz
Matthew Eagleson
Brian Waters
& Eric Fisher

On This Recording.
Drums: Ian Harrower
Backing Vocals: Tina Brugnoletti

Engineered: Luke Tierney / Chris Rakestraw / Ben Arons

Produced: Jail Weddings and Russell Simins
Mastered: Pete Lyman

Distributed by White Noise, Los Angeles, CA

01. Cheat On Your New Lover With Me
Writer: Hart
Published: (c) (p) 2009 Tru-Vow Tunes (SESAC)

02. I Am Fucking Crazy
Writers: Hart / Caulkins
Published: (c) (p) 2009 Tru-Vow Tunes (SESAC)

03. I’m My Own Doctor
Writer: Hart
Published: (c) (p) 2009 Tru-Vow Tunes (SESAC)

04. These Fleeting Moments
Writer: Hart
Published: (c) (p) 2009 Tru-Vow Tunes (SESAC)

05. (Do You Think We’re Gonna End Up On) Skid Row?
Writer: Hart
Published: (c) (p) 2009 Tru-Vow Tunes (SESAC)

BARCODE: 8 84501 19597 3

MATRIX: “MTH5329 DISCMAKERS”