From the cheesy homemade porn of the cover shot to the Farfisa-led garage rock opener, "On My Mind," the debut album by Cincinnati's
Thee Shams is erstwhile blues label Fat Possum's attempt to jump on the sleazier side of the garage rock bandwagon. That's not to say that this mix of Memphis R&B and '60s-style garage grunge isn't effective -- the version of
Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" sounds like it was cut by the circa-1964
Rolling Stones during their sojourn at the Chess studios, and that's a compliment -- just that listening to this album elicits a fun game of "Name That Influence" but not much else. The lyrics are pure Nuggets snot-rock trash, complete with casual misogyny and comically inappropriate tough-guy posturing coming from a guy (Zachary Gabbard) who quite often sings like his jeans are far too tight, and the tunes are equally pleasant but derivative.
Please Yourself is a fun soundtrack for a night of mild barroom debauchery, but not much more than that. ~ Stewart Mason