Album | The Thirsty Quireboys – God Bless America – The Best Of Thirsty

Soulful, bluesy, and deeply memorable, God Bless America – Best Of Thirsty is a remarkable record indeed. 9/10 

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Formed in 1984, the original Quireboys (Spike, Guy Bailey, Nigel Mogg, and Chris Johnstone) raised hell throughout the late 80s and early 90s before disbanding in 1993. Although the band would reform in 2001, it was with a new line up, and The Quireboys went through a number of iterations before Spike, Bailey, and Mogg reconvened in 2022, a short-lived reunion that ended tragically with the death of Bailey in 2023.

A tribute to their fallen friend, The Thirsty Quireboys is a reworking of material recorded by Guy under the guise of “Thirsty”, a side-project he concocted with Russian poet Irina D. Originally intended to be much narrower in scope, with Spike entering the studio to sing a single track (1-10, 7 and Possibly 6), he identified so closely with the music that he ended up working with pianist Chris Johnstone and producer Chris Kimsey on a full-length compilation that included new vocals and remixed cuts from across the three albums that make up the Thirsty catalogue. The result, billed to The Thirsty Quireboys, is a bluesy, soulful, and deeply emotional album titled God Bless America – Best Of Thirsty.

The album opens with the slinky, raw-throated 1-10, 7 and Possibly 6, which finds an early Aerosmith vibe locked away within the track’s serpentine slide guitars and shuffling beat. It’s a strong start to a diverse album. Take the glorious Flawless, which sets Spike’s whiskey-soaked rasp against gospel backing vocals, the resultant track providing a nod to the dusty blues of Tom Waits via The Rolling Stones – it’s an absolute gem and it’s easy to see why those involved became so hooked on the project.

The title song juxtaposes a lovely ramshackle blues with some of the album’s hardest-hitting lyrics, relating as they do the tragic tale of Rosemary Kennedy, who was forcibly lobotomised in a barbaric operation that saw the surgeons forcing her to keep singing God Bless America, only ceasing their bumbling incisions when she stopped. She was left broken, locked away, and almost entirely incoherent for the rest of her life. A subtle, understated track, it conveys horror through its deft interpolation of the titular song’s melody, and it leaves you with a lingering sense of unease which is not entirely dispelled by the ferocious, ascending riff of Mercury, this latter track boasting an absolutely stunning vocal performance from Spike.

The album gets back to a more laid-back vibe on Albertos, which recalls the surf rock of…. [READ FULL ARTICLE]

author: simonovitch