STAN RIDGWAY
Holiday In Dirt (New West)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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Odds and sods comps seldom pass the mustard, 'cept with artists such as Stan Ridgway. His post-Mexican Radio solo career sputters and spits along like a rusty heap, throwing up a big cloud of black smoke every couple of years. The sporadic output and the oddball nature of the material makes each and every release a special event. Gathering bits left on the cutting room floor, unfit for general public consumption, and reclaiming lost nuggets donated to films you never heard of, Holiday in Dirt is the perfect Stan Ridgway capsule, full of conflicting styles, anti-pop pop, stupefying instrumentation, bizarre percussion and that voodoo voice. But what it makes absolutely clear is the fact that under all the deviant lounge rhythms, Ridgway is one helluva storyteller.

© 2002 - John Sekerka