Archive Review: Jack Oblivian's Rat City (2011)

As a founding member of both the Compulsive Gamblers and the Oblivians, Jack Oblivian is as close to Memphis garage-rock royalty as you’ll find. For all that Oblivian has accomplished through the years, it’s often his solo work that shines the brightest. Rat City is Oblivian’s latest shot at glory, a boiling, rumbling stewpot of fatback punk-blues, spicy garage-rock, and sweet pop delivered in the Memphis tradition.

Whereas the title track is a streetfight with clashing instrumentation and city-slang lyrics that would make Armand Schaubroeck blush, cuts like the rollicking “Kidnapper” evince a Duane Eddy twang and Alex Chilton soul. “Girl On the Beach” is a melodic romantic ode with an undeniable hook while the stunning “Girl With the Bruises” is what the Clash would have sounded like had they come from Memphis. There’s a lot to like in the musical gumbo that is Rat City, Jack Oblivian one of rock’s lovable outcasts like Chilton, Willie DeVille, and all those others who dared walk on the edge with heart and soul. (Big Legal Mess/Fat Possum Records)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine, 2011