The album opens with “Mystery Writers,” a song written by Chris D and Peter Andrus. And immediately these guys prove they still have that great raw punk edge, and can write a damn good lyric. Check out these lines, which begin the song: “Bliss is out of date/A stolen car from out of state/My exaltation got driven to burning hell/I died right before I cried out the story I had to tell.” This is music that will demand some volume from your stereo speakers. I’m especially digging that guitar work. That’s followed by another original song, “Falling Forward,” this one written by Lathan McKay and Julie Christensen, and also featuring some excellent lyrics. “Mirror, mirror, don’t you lie/I’ve let you win too many times/You can’t break my mind/It’s time to fall/We’re falling forward, we’re falling forward.” And I love the next line too, “The devil may care, but I don’t anymore,” a great play on the expression “devil-may-care.” And I love the way the song builds in power toward the end.
The first cover of the album is “Ice Cream Phoenix,” a Jefferson Airplane song written by Jorma Kaukonen and Charles Cockey, and included on the 1968 album Crown Of Creation. This is a great choice for Divine Horsemen, for Jefferson Airplane not only had female and male vocalists, but also a wild raw energy. So it is no surprise that Divine Horsemen deliver an excellent rendition of this song. “Are you so old that you’ve no childhood/Is your timeline so unreal/That all your sunsets come in the morning/Baby, tell me how do you feel/Shelves of books in your mirror reflected.” That’s followed by “Mind Fever, Soul Fire,” a song that Chris D. included on his Love Cannot Die solo album back in 1995 and is now revisiting with Divine Horsemen. The feel of the song is close to that of the original recording, but of course there are some differences, the most noticeable being the presence of Julie Christensen’s vocals. “My friends think that I’ve gone insane/My heart’s a sad balloon/Getting ready to burst/A shadow from the past is weeping like a ghost.” Doug Lacy plays accordion on this track. The band then revisits another older song, “Handful Of Sand,” this one being the title track of the group’s 1988 release, a song the band recorded just before disbanding. It is now getting a new life, the band completely rocking on this one. This is just bloody fantastic. “I need to change my life, it’s a mess” is a line that certainly speaks to me, and the same goes for the line “Days slip through my fingers, years of crumbling dust.” There is a great sense of urgency to this track, and there is something a bit unhinged as well, which is just exactly right. How can you not be affected by the band’s energy?
The album’s second cover is “Any Day Now,” a song written by Tim Lee and Susan Bauer Lee, and included on the 2013 Tim Lee 3 album Devil’s Rope. Julie and Chris trade lines at the beginning, then deliver some lines together, such as “You can’t succeed until you learn how to fail.” Well, all right then, I think it’s time for me to succeed. But this is not an optimistic number, which you can tell from lines like “Things are never quite as good as they used to seem/Any day now it’s going to end up in the ditch” and “Another knife going in your back.” Yes, this song seems in line with the mood of things in the world these days. Ah, perhaps that electric guitar can help dig us out of this reality. “Living in anticipation of things going wrong/It hasn’t happened yet, but it won’t be long.” That is followed by a cover of Patti Smith’s “25th Floor,” a song from her 1978 album Easter. This one is a fairly straightforward rock number, featuring more great raw energy.
But the most interesting and obscure and delightful choice of covers on this release is “Lame Motherfucker,” a song from the soundtrack to the 1970 film Pound, written and directed by Robert Downey Sr. (and featuring the first screen performance by Robert Downey Jr.). The movie’s soundtrack was released, but apparently in only a very small, private printing, and copies are rare (and yes, I absolutely want one). There is not a lot of information available about the music, other than that Charley Cuva wrote it. Anyway, Divine Horsemen deliver an excellent rendition of this song, re-titling the song “Can’t You See?” This song has bloody wonderful lyrics like “I’d love to kick your ass/Right through the middle class” and “You never felt the pain/There’s sawdust in your brain” and “Bow wow wow wow, you’re an ugly cocksucker” and “Can’t you see you’re a lame motherfucker/Asshole licker, you’re a bad coke cutter.” Oh yes, these guys are having a great time with this one. And you will have fun with it too. It is a joy to sing along to this one.
They go back to original material with “No Evil Star,” a fantastic song written by Chris D and Peter Andrus. This one has a different sound as it begins, with acoustic guitars. On the chorus, it takes on a more theatrical sound and vibe. This song features wonderfully unusual lyrics, such as “It’s cold in the alley, cold in the street/Cold in the back yard without any feet” and “Ice in the soul without any cream” and “Chaos destroys our dreams.” The final of the album’s covers is “Strangers.” And no, it’s not the Kinks song, but one written by Johnny Duke and Will Kimbrough. “How’d we get so good at pretending/We’re strangers now.” They do an excellent job with it, giving it a raw sort of desperation, and some of the guitar work reminds me of moments from the Neil Young album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Doug Lacy plays piano on this track.
“Barefoot In The Streets” is an original song written by Chris D and Julie Christensen, played on acoustic guitars. “Last night a profane dream crossed my sick mind/I saw you laughing at this sad tale of mine.” It’s a strangely pretty song, even as they sing “Cruel enough to betray, don’t court regret/Talking to you is talking to the dead.” Doug Lacy is again on piano. “Barefoot In The Streets” is followed by “Stony Path,” which comes on strong, yet seems to naturally follow the previous track, in part because of the early line “One bare foot in front of the other.” This one was written by Chris D and Peter Andrus. It gets pretty wild and fairly powerful. I love Julie Christensen’s backing vocals during that final section of the track. So good. The album concludes with “Love Cannot Die.” This is another song that was included on Chris D’s 1995 album, where it was the title track. That original version is approximately nine minutes, while this new recording is only six. Some lines are cut from this new version, such as the “Moisten my lips with your precious kiss” lines and the “Honey, our species is almost extinct” lines.
CD Track List
- Mystery Writers
- Falling Forward
- Ice Cream Phoenix
- Mind Fever, Soul Fire
- Handful Of Sand
- Any Day Now
- 25th Floor
- Can’t You See?
- No Evil Star
- Strangers
- Barefoot In The Streets
- Stony Path
- Love Cannot Die
Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix was released on August 20, 2021.
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