When
Bomp impresario Greg Shaw first heard Hell on Heels, an all-woman
four-person garage band out of Phoenix, Arizona, he told one reporter,
“I feel the same way that Phil Spector must have felt when he first saw
the Ronettes.” (He put out the first Hell on Heels record, Les Hell on Heels shortly before his death.) That’s maybe a little strong, but Dogs, Records and Wine
is one monster of a garage-rock album, with fierce snarling verses and
shout-along choruses, strident guitar mayhem and sweet 1960s organ.
Album highlight “Can’t Buy Cool” is pure rampage, as lead singer Paula
Monarch dresses down a poser, while “Send Him” slithers and insinuates
atop an evil bass line. Kindred spirit Nikki Corvette steps up to the
mic for the sublimely sardonic, call-and-response havoc of “Pretty Mess”
and “Made Like No Other”, a sexy, self-assured “c’mere you” anthem
that subtly updates the Shangri-Las. The 1950s and 1960s atmospherics
are thick in the air, but you never forget that these are very
independent, modern women. None of that moping around in a poodle skirt
Mr. Right—the ladies of Hell on Heels are perfectly okay on their own.
“It’s not that I don’t need anyone / It’s just the ones I need are few
and far between,” growls Monarch in the swaggery-slow, blues-tinged
title track. She’s got a dog, a bottle of wine, some cool records and a
kicking rock band. A man would just be superfluous. Jennifer Kelly (popmatters)
01 Win Some Lose Some
02 I'll Come Runnin'
03 Dogs, Records & Wine
04 Can't Buy Cool
05 Matter Of Time
06 Made Like No Other
07 Pretty Mess
08 Through With You
09 Send Him
10 Sassy
11 C'mon Turn Me on
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