Roots rock renegade
Tav Falco, a vocalist and guitarist whose music has comprised a fractured fusion of rockabilly, Memphis blues, first-era rock & roll, primitive art rock, and '60s garage band slop since the '70s, pairs up two of his albums from the '80s and '90s in this expanded reissue. 1991's
Life Sentence in the Cathouse was produced by
Falco's frequent collaborator
Alex Chilton, and featured a studio band of Memphis legends, including
Teenie Hodges (who had played with
Al Green and the
Hi Records house band),
Jim Dickinson (who worked with
Aretha Franklin,
the Rolling Stones, and
Big Star), and
Roland Robinson (a key member of
Eddie Floyd's road band). For this new edition of the album,
Falco has also included
Live in Vienna, a document of
Falco on-stage at the Messepalast on May 24, 1988. ~ Mark Deming
