Hoodoo Gurus Albums (9)
What The Critics Say
Eight years after the solid but underwhelming Blue Cave, and six years after officially calling it a day, Australian geniuses the Hoodoo Gurus picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and reconvened in the studio to cut Mach Schau, which pretty well picks up where the band left off when we last visited with them. The poppier (and garagier) accents of the Hoodoo's classic periods albums (Mars Needs Guitars through Magnum Cum Louder) have been pushed to the back burner in favor of a harder, guitar-based sound not unlike 1994's Crank, though "When You Get to California" and "Chop" boast more than a glimmer of the band's friendlier approach, and their trademark wit is gratefully in evidence throughout (especially on the snarky "Sour Grapes" and "The Mighty Have Fallen." Dave Faulkner's voice shows a bit of wear around the edges on these sessions, but he's more than game, and the rest of the band sounds tight and enthusiastic, as if they never quit (since Faulkner, guitarist Brad Shepherd and drummer Mark Kingsmill were still playing together in the Persian Rugs, they probably never had the chance to get out of practice). Among Hoodoo Gurus fans, Mach Schau is probably going to be viewed as a matter of taste -- devotees of later period Hoodoos will love it, less so those folks who dug their earlier stuff. But by any standard, it's a strong and committed piece of rock & roll, and the world is a better place with the Hoodoo Gurus in it, and that if nothing else makes for a good reason to check this out. [For its release outside Australia, Mach Schau was given a new sequence; the songs " "Isolation" and "Penelope's Lullaby" were removed, and "White Night," "Monkey's Wedding" and "Song of the Year" were added.] ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
By the time the Hoodoo Gurus released their seventh album, Blue Cave, in 1996, the band had settled into a fairly predictable pattern for their records -- namely, they hadn't changed their psychedelic, jangly guitar-pop much at all. Occasionally, they add louder guitars to the mix, but they are essentially the same band they were in 1986. That's not necessarily a bad thing -- the Hoodoo Gurus have a way with crafting a solid hook. The problem with Blue Cave is that they just didn't come up with enough of them. A few songs stand out, but by and large the album is just a standard Hoodoo Gurus album, albeit an enjoyable one. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After a decade of making music, the Hoodoo Gurus sound much the same as they did back on their first hit, "I Want You Back." With Crank, the Gurus continue to mine the power-pop they love so dearly with suprisingly great results. "Less Than a Feeling" mines the Boston/Nirvana riff with more than a touch of sarcasm, and "The Right Time" is a great four minutes of what the Gurus do best. Get a copy of Crank, and crank it up. ~ James Chrispell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
1987's Blow Your Cool! found the Hoodoo Gurus adding a considerable amount of polish to their production and toning down their trademark humor in a bid for a wider audience. But in the United States, it didn't pay off; Blow Your Cool! opened few new doors for the Gurus, and they were dropped by Elektra Records. Thankfully, 1989's Magnum Cum Louder found them newly contracted to RCA Records and sounding like their loyal fans loved them to sound -- loud, hooky, and rockin' out with a smile on their collective face. The album's opener, "Come Anytime," was the Gurus' most irresistible pop song since "Bittersweet," and "Another World," "All the Way," and "Baby Can Dance (Pts. II-IV)" proved they hadn't used up all their good hooks in one place. Meanwhile, those wanting something stronger got their fix with a handful of top-shelf rockers, most notably "Axegrinder," "Glamourpuss," "I Don't Know Anything," and "Death in the Afternoon." The high wackiness of Hoodoo Gurus classics like "Hayride to Hell" and "Dig It Up" is still missing from Magnum Cum Louder, but the overall tone is much more relaxed than Blow Your Cool!; Dave Faulkner seems to be having a fun with the songs here, especially the mock-pompous "Axegrinder," the smirking "Glamourpuss," and the baseball saga/music biz metaphor "Where's That Hit." The Hoodoo Gurus also went back to producing themselves, and the audio is full but uncluttered, with a roomy, natural sounding mix that flatters Brad Shepherd's guitars and Mark Kingsmill's drums more than the slicker, sterile sound of Blow Your Cool! Magnum Cum Louder proved that the Hoodoo Gurus knew better than anyone how to make a great Hoodoo Gurus album, and it marked a welcome return to form for the band. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For the Hoodoo Gurus' third album, the group's American record label was hoping the band could come up with something a bit easier to market than the witty, '60s-obsessed pop/rock of Stoneage Romeos and Mars Needs Guitars, so they paired the group up with producer Mark Opitz, who had previously twisted the knobs for AC/DC, INXS, and the Divinyls. Opitz gave the band a smoother, slicker surface and a cracking, radio-friendly drum sound; he also weeded out the band's wackier material (nothing like "Dig It Up" or "Hayride to Hell" this time out) in favor of mega-hooky pop ("Out That Door" and "Good Times," the latter featuring the Bangles on backing vocals) and straight-ahead rock & roll ("Where Nowhere Is" and "Party Machine"). As a result, Blow Your Cool! is the least idiosyncratic album in the Hoodoo Gurus' catalog and doesn't reflect the sneaky wit or goofy charm that won them many of their early fans. But it also makes them sound like the great rock & roll band they always were and leaves little doubt that these guys didn't need to be funny to get over; Dave Faulkner even seems to enjoy having the opportunity to play it straight on the politically slanted "In the Middle of the Land," and the band rarely rocked as hard as they did on the tunes here where they throw the engine into fifth gear. Blow Your Cool! is in some respects a compromised Hoodoo Gurus album, but it's strong enough to prove that these guys could make a worthwhile album even while playing by someone else's rules. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Mars Needs Guitars!'
Release Date 1/1/1985
Tracks 10
Label Chrysalis
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The Hoodoo Gurus followed the excellent Stoneage Romeos with the equally swell Mars Needs Guitars!, a second helping of Dave Faulkner's wonderfully skewed kitsch-pop confections. While the band's basic m.o. hasn't changed all that much in the interim -- '60s-era pop, garage rock, and cowpunk remain their key musical reference points -- Faulkner's skills as a songwriter have grown perceptibly: the opening "Bittersweet" is an absolute gem, with other highlights like "Death Defying" and "Show Some Emotion" trailing not far behind. Also commendable is the Gurus' sharp wit -- from the hillbilly freakout of "Hayride to Hell" to the primitive B-movie stomp of the title track, their affection for the guilty pleasures of trash culture is infectious. Irresistible fun. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
"Shake some action/Psychotic reaction/No satisfaction/Sky pilot, Sky Saxon/That's what I like/Blitzkrieg bop/To the jailhouse rock/Stop stop, at the hop/Do the bluejean bop/That's what I like!" In the first verse of "(Let's All) Turn On," Hoodoo Guru's frontman Dave Faulkner summed up the band's aesthetic so well that elaborating almost seems pointless, but while it's obvious that Faulkner and his friends had a healthy appreciation of rock & roll's past, one listen to their debut album, Stoneage Romeos, made clear they thought music was having a pretty good present, too. The Hoodoo Gurus played power pop with the force and enthusiasm of a full-bore rock band, and while they loved '60s garage rock (as if "(Let's All) Turn On" and "In the Echo Chamber" would permit any doubt on the subject), there was a lot more going on than that -- check out the pop rock of "I Want You Back," the neo-exotica of "Zanzibar," the psychobilly of "Dig It Up," the heartbroken lament of "My Girl," and the straight-ahead rock of "I Was a Kamikaze Pilot." Faulkner, guitarist Brad Shepherd, bassist Clyde Bramley, and drummer James Baker loaded their songs with catchy melodies and killer pop hooks and played 'em with the sweaty enthusiasm of a crack rock & roll band that knew the value of a great tune. And Stoneage Romeos is funny as hell without sounding like the work of a joke band; the Gurus loved a good laugh, but they loved a good tune even more. Stoneage Romeos ranks with the most solid debut albums of the 1980s, and if you don't like the Hoodoo Gurus, I suspect you don't like rock & roll very much. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
