Gun-Shy (album)

Last updated

Gun-Shy
ScreamingBlueMessiahs - Gun-Shy.jpg
Studio album by
the Screaming Blue Messiahs
Released1986
Genre Rock
Length41:57
Label Elektra
Producer Howard Gray, Vic Maile
The Screaming Blue Messiahs chronology
Good and Gone
(1984)		Gun-Shy
(1986)		 Bikini Red
(1987)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Gun-Shy is the second release by the Screaming Blue Messiahs and their first full-length recording. The album, which was jointly produced by Apollo 440's Howard Gray, [2] was notable for being one of the last recordings by Vic Maile, [2] well known for his work with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton. Gun-Shy was also one of two albums by The Screaming Blue Messiahs that brought them to the attention of David Bowie and that led to him promoting the band: [3] "Well! The band this week – I've only just discovered them, so they're my pet project – is The Screaming Blue Messiahs. They're the best band I've heard out of England in a long time" [4] [5] and "There’s an English band I like very much. Nobody seems to have heard of them. They’re called The Screaming Blue Messiahs and I’m pushing them like mad." [6]

Contents

Reception

The release of Gun-Shy in early 1986 was met by a generally positive reception by select music press: Spin said, "Gun-Shy is a damn fine record, consisting of a quasi-neo-rockabilly power trio... the Screaming Blue Messiahs squeeze a lot of great music out of guitar, bass, drums and vocal."; [7] The Melody Maker stated that "[t]hey have a gut instinct for the roots of blues and R 'n' B and from that sure base they can confidently blast their way through Bill Carter's extraordinarily powerful selection of songs." [8] The NME wrote that "[o]n the strength of this album, I'd say the Messiahs are going to be very, very big indeed." [8] To promote the album, the band embarked on another extensive tour of Germany, Finland, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA — including a series of concerts supporting the Cramps and another series supporting Echo and the Bunnymen.

Singles

"Smash the Market Place" and "Wild Blue Yonder" were released as singles in 1986. "Wild Blue Yonder" resurfaced in 2006 as the closing music of season 03/episode 04 of FX's Rescue Me .

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriterLength
1."Wild Blue Yonder"Bill Carter4:44
2."Holiday Head"Bill Carter3:58
3."Smash The Market Place"Bill Carter3:10
4."You're Gonna Change" Hank Williams 2:41
5."Just For Fun"Bill Carter2:49
6."Let's Go Down To The Woods"Bill Carter4:34
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Talking Doll"Bill Carter2:38
2."Twin Cadillac Valentine"Bill Carter3:57
3."President Kennedy's Mile"Bill Carter2:56
4."Someone To Talk To"Bill Carter/Christopher Thompson3:36
5."Clear View"Bill Carter4:00
6."Killer Born Man"Bill Carter3:32

Personnel

The band

Studio

References

  1. ↑ Dougan, John. "Gun-Shy – The Screaming Blue Messias". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 AllMusic: credits: Gun-Shy
  3. ↑ Google Books: Bowie on Bowie: Screaming Blue Messiahs
  4. ↑ Musician magazine, August 1987.
  5. ↑ "#1393: I Wanna Be a Flintstone by the Screaming Blue Messiahs". Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds. 24 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Words and Music magazine, January 1988.
  7. ↑ Google Books: Spin: reviews
  8. 1 2 Porter, Dick. "The Legend of the Lost Blue Messiahs".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.