Jason and The Scorchers - Wildfires And Misfires

  by Geraint Jones

published: 8 / 5 / 2002

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Review

Subtitled ‘Two Decades Of Outtakes and Rarities’, ‘Wildfires + Misfires’ is an unambiguously titled round up of unreleased live and studio material from the vaults. Whether any of it should have remained there is perhaps an arguable point. The band celebrated its 20th Anniversary last year and although they split for several years at the end of the 80s, since reforming in 1993 they haven’t officially split again since. That said, with Jason Ringenberg just having released his 3rd solo album, ‘All Over Creation’ to critical acclaim, the band’s activities have only amounted to occasional one-off live appearances in recent years. Prime movers in the Cowpunk movement of the mid 80s, a precursor to today’s alt country scene, Jason & The Scorchers, released two undisputed classics – the mini album ‘Fervor’ (1984), best remembered for the band’s incendiary interpretation of Bob Dylan’s ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’ and the Michael Stipe co-written ‘Both Sides Of The Line’ and their full-length debut the following year, ‘Lost And Found’, which included another spirited cover, this time a version of 'Lost Highway', famously recorded by Hank Williams, alongside crackling originals like ‘White Lies', 'Broken Whiskey Glass' and ‘If Money Talks’. Unfortunately the band’s unique (at the time) blend of punk’s energy and attitude, married to traditional country music gradually dissipated into increasingly nondescript 80s rock cliché as the decade progressed (regressed?). The band’s split in 1990 obviously stopped the rot. Fortunately the release of 1995's comeback album ‘A Blazing Grace’ and then ‘Clear Impetuous Morning’ the following year were evidence of a band that had remembered what had made them so great in the first place and the relative disappointment of the band’s final recordings before the split were forgotten. As retrospective odd ‘n’ sods collections of this kind often do, ‘Wildfires’ + Misfires’ suffers from a lack of cohesion, although with nineteen tracks there should be enough here to keep fans happy. Early demos of ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’ and ‘Shop it Around’ provide tantalising hints of the better-known versions that would follow. A host of exciting live performances, even with slightly heavy-handed editing, can’t disguise the adrenaline surge at a Scorchers show. Crank up the ‘84 take of ‘Lost Highway’ or the version of ‘Tear It Up’ with special guest “Mr. Link Wray” to demonstrate how exciting live music can be. Drummer Perry Baggs' vocals on the very different, traditional country version of ‘If Money Talks’ is an interesting curio too. The recording quality of some of the demos indicates that some of the source tapes may have languished in a damp basement at some time. Some of the unreleased later material isn’t particularly inspiring either, (the songs the band actually released from this period weren’t that wonderful to begin with!) so maybe a spell in a damp basement could have helped them? In Warner Hodges, the Scorchers had (have) an exceptionally gifted guitarist, who whilst displaying occasional rock indulgences, particularly during their late 80s period, was an inspirational player at the band’s heights. Jason Ringenberg is still one of the most engaging and charismatic front-men around – I saw him play a solo show just last year, some sixteen years since I’d seen a searing Scorchers show at the Mean Fiddler in London and he hadn’t lost any of his magic in the intervening years. ‘Wildfire’s + Misfires’ might not necessarily be essential, but it’s enough to rekindle fond memories of a great band who are much missed.

Track Listing:-

1 Absolutely Sweet Marie
2 Shop It Around
3 Lost Highway
4 Long Black Veil
5 Tear It Up
6 If Money Talks
7 Polk Salad Annie
8 Don't Stop Doin'
9 Comin' Round
10 Fallen Angel
11 Too Much Too Young
12 Break Open The Sky
13 The Slow Train Never Ends
14 Window Town
15 Buried Me Like A Bone
16 Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
17 Jimmie Rodgers' Last Blue Yodel
18 Cappuccino Rosie
19 Gospel Plow

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