Hot Snakes - “Plenty For All” from Audit In Progress (Swami, 2004)

well last week i compared the soft pack to hot snakes, so maybe it’s time for the real thing.  hot snakes always struck me, from both my own listening and critical consensus, as a band that was next to impossible to hate on—they knew exactly what they wanted to do (tight downer garage jams with a level of craftsmanship that put the idea of all other post-60s “garage” to shame) and did in just about 100% of the time.  “plenty for all” was always a favorite of mine for a few reasons: the last song on their last studio album, it was both atypical (where did that cheery major-key melody riff come from?) and a perfect summation of their “thing.”  that’s because rick froberg’s black-heart sarcasm never got better than this one—southern california is a hellhole, but come here anyway, what else are you going to do (ps it’s all pointless anyway)?  you can’t take him seriously in the context of his body of work as a lyricist, but i’d be lying if i said this song wasn’t affecting (and genuinely sad) on some level.

i guess part of that reaction is that except for a live album, this was it.  i’m not a purist in anything, but sometimes when i listen to these guys i just want them to come back and show everyone how it’s done.