After the largely unheralded triumph of 2001’s Tremendous Efforts, Toronto brothers Dallas and Travis Good-along with Sean Dean and sometime Pernice Brother, Mike Belitsky-serve up their finest yet. With Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor replacing old producer Steve Albini, their trademark mix of Sergio Leone twitch, surf, cowpunk and desert-rock is cushioned with Lee Hazlewood-like ballads (“Oak Ridges”, “The Story’s Often Told”), fat horns (“Mile Over Mecca”) and spooky duets (Dallas and mother Margaret’s “A Steep Climb”), without compromising intensity. Meanwhile, the Cramps-flogging-Highway 61 fireball of “Tiger Tiger” is further proof they’re the best roots-rollers since early Blasters.
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