Who Put Out the Fire

(Touch and Go)

Pull over, pop quiz time! Get yer hand out of yer pants and answer this simple-to-answer question.

Which has the shortest lifespan?

a) a live oyster at a raw bar

b) a TV show starring a Wayans brother

c) any band -- such as Circus Lupus, Las Mordidas or the Monorchid -- featuring Chris Thompson

Time's up! It's C !

And in the time it took to do that, our boy has already dissolved the Monorchid and started another band, this one called Skull Control. This impatience would be funny if the bands were flails, but man, anything Chris Thompson does turns to gold and the Monorchid were no different, with two laser-guided guitars dog-fighting it out and a bottom end that chews up and spits out concepts like 'swing' and 'funk' and makes your ass move.

So he's riding off into sunset number three behind an album of rants in the classical sense, angry, breathless and exhilirating. And what's so touching is that he's not just spouting off at the mouth but he's got an agenda against the high priests and poseurs that he thinks are killing punk rock (who cares if it's an outmoded concept, so is Super 8 and people still love that). And if he goes a little bit overboard a song called "'A' was for Anarchy" with a chorus that has him proclaim "Don't you see / I care / that's why" well, hell, at least someone still cares. Extremism in the defence of liberty if no vice, if fact might be the one ultimate rock and roll lifestyle.

So let's not let the man scream alone in the wilderness. The $12.99 you spend on this album will go towards an ass-save of rock and roll, and charity begins at home, and so on.

--T. Magill