The Bad Joke That Ended Well - The Bad Joke That Ended Well

Album review by kev@thesoundofconfusion.co.uk

Bristol quintet The Bad Joke That Ended Well boast that their lives shows are "as entertaining as Michael Jackson". They don't specify whether they mean as entertaining as the king of pop's live performances or, for better or worse, the tragic singer's frankly amazingly entertaining (if fatally flawed) life in general. You don't see many blues/psych/garage bands moonwalking or doing Jesus poses with loads of dancers and pyrotechnics though. But if you did it would probably be the greatest show on earth. Having not caught them live yet, we can only speculate and tell you what the music's like instead.

Despite being self-titled, this is actually the group's second album. Their mission is simple: to release as much material as possible as fast as possible. You'd think this may lead to potential quality control issues but there's no sign of any half-finished ideas, filler or rip-offs here. That said you can compare them to several other bands. We have over 50 years of garage rock to draw from and they take a little from all the greats including The Sonics, The Stooges, The Modern Lovers, The Cramps, The Strangles, The Black Lips, Grinderman and many more besides. You know the sound we're talking about.

The music is fierce, to the point, growling and filled with chugging guitar riffs and organ, like The Doors reforming with Tom Waits on the mic. The songs? Yeah, they're good too, but going into details is a litte futile considering you'll have built a pretty good image already, so instead, here are a few personal favourites to get you started: the snarling primal fuzz-rock of 'Journey Man', the throat-bleeding blues howl of 'I'm Not There', the swirling 60s psychedelia of 'Hold My Hand' and possibly the pick of the bunch in the epic last track 'Strangler'. A familiar run through some classic sounds but an enjoyable one all the same.




The Joke That Ended Well's website

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