Saturnalia by The Gutter Twins
An honest review, from a Whigs/Singers junkie Perspective by Richard Ventura
If the the Twilight Singers are heroine, and The Afghan Whigs are really, really good heroine, then the Gutter Twins are Methadone. It’s not as good as the real thing, but it’ll do until the real thing comes along.
Greg Dulli has a style that is unmistakable, and some may say it is an acquired taste (I would be one of those people), but once you get a taste for it you need more.
Since the Afghan Whigs have disbanded for good following their recent retrospective Unbreakable, featuring the first AW single in ten years, and the last Twilight Singers album Powder Burns, I found myself wanting for more. This want led me to realize that Greg Dulli’s own Amber Headlights is an amazing album that closes the gap between the Whigs and the Singers. It wasn’t enough tho. I really wanted, no needed, more. So I turned to the Gutter Twins.
Having heard a couple of singles through Pandora, I realized that I had not given them a fair go the first time I had listened to the album. You see, I figured since Dulli was involved with it that I would automatically like it. That was unfair, because this I not solely a Dulli project. The band name, The Gutter Twins, is really a misnomer, because Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan are as much twins as “Mini Me” (Vern Troyer) and Wesley Snipes. Those of you looking for this album to be second coming of the Whigs or even the Singers, will be disappointed…although not at first.
The Stations and God’s Children clearly have the Greg Dulli touch, but aside from the next to last song on the album, Each to Each, a Greg Dulli signature pice, and the last song Front Street, the rest of the album is clearly Mark Lanegan’s baby. That is not to say that it is bad, just not Greg Dulli. Having many other projects on his plate, Dulli seemed happy to sit back and let Mark drive for this one.
Where this album differs from a typical Dulli project is without a doubt in the style and feeling. The writing styles of the two artists are as different as Jazz and Blues. In fact, that is probably the most glaring shortcoming of the album. Both the Whigs’ and the Singers’ styles really defy being pigeonholed, having elements of many different styles, the Gutter Twins’ album seems to be more rooted in blues and classic rock styles. The feeling of the album is not the same, lacking that minor tendency of the previous Dulli works. Even on the Dulli penned and sung songs, it is there, just not turned up to Eleven.
All in all, I would say that it is a good album that has good music on it, as long as it is taken in its own right. Expecting this album to be a Whigs/Singers/Dulli album is a lot like expecting to see a copy of the Mona Lisa to be as good as the real thing.