THE GOLDEN PALOMINOS

PURE

  1/  Little Suicides                            (Carson,Fier)                 4.41
  2/  Heaven                                     (Carson,Fier,Skopelitis)      4.50
  3/  Anything                                   (Kavanagh,Fier,Skopeltis)     6.06
  4/  Wings                                      (Carson,Fier,Skopelitis)      6.17
  5/  Pure                                       (Carson,Fier)                 5.53
  6/  No Skin                                    (Carson,Fier)                 6.41
  7/  Gun                                        (Carson,Fier,Skopelitis)      6.08
  8/  Break in the Road                          (Carson,Fier)                 4.23
  9/  Touch You                                  (Kavanagh,Fier)               4.04

          Recorded and mixed at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Recorded by Oz Fritz, Bruce Calder, Gary Rindfuss, Rich Costey and Matt Stein
          Mix engineers : Oz Fritz and Matt Stein
          Digital editing : Andy Vandette
          Produced by Anton Fier
          Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk
Lori Carson : acoustic guitar, vocals; Knox Chandler : electric guitar; Bootsy Collins : rhythm guitar; Anton Fier : drums, programming, loops, etc; Lydia Kavanagh : vocals; Amanda Kramer : keyboards; Bill Laswell : bass; Nicky Skopelitis : 6 & 12 string electric guitar.

          1994  -  Restless Records (USA), 7  72761-2  (CD)

REVIEWS :

Anton Fier has come up with a radical idea for his latest Golden Palominos album; he hasn't fired the band. After years of switching lineups for each album, with Pure the Palominos have kept the same basic lineup for two albums in a row. And why not? This is How it Feels, the last Palominos release, was an extraordinary album, mainly due to the vocal and lyric input of New York based singer-songwriter Lori Carson who sang, whispered and panted her way through song after song abut love, sex, obsession, betrayal, death and other everyday matters.

Pure continues where This is How it Feels left off, with the rest of the Palominos wrapping an airily funky sound around Carson's lyrics. The band, featuring Fier on drums, Bill Laswell on bass and Bootsy Collins on rhythm guitar, provides a restrained but pulsing soundtrack that perfectly compliments the sensuality of Carson's performance.

The only drawback to this album is that aside from the first two tracks, "Little Suicides" and "Heaven," there seem to be fewer single-friendly songs here than were on the last record. This may destine Pure to the same commercial indifference that met This is How it Feels, but it doesn't make the album any less of an accomplishment.

Frank Tantillo, June 1995 (courtesy of the Oculus Homepage)

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If you live in New York, then chances are good that either you or someone you know has once been the Golden Palominos' singer. With Pure it was Lori Carson's turn, and she was just what this occasionally brilliant but frequently unfocused band needed. This is probably the Palominos' first great album (unless you count the group's brilliantly abrasive debut). What's the difference this time? Easy: focus, cogency, and discipline. Also funky, up-to-the-minute beats percolating under Carson's diaphanous vocals and supporting her intelligent (if sometimes overly precious) lyrics. Notice how her unbelievably sexy whisper on "Heaven" rubs up against Bill Laswell's ironclad bass; try not to notice the lyrics on "No Skin" ("This dark and secret crime/Cruelty masked as something kind"), and instead luxuriate in the dark and lovely atmospherics. Very, very nice. That's Bootsy Collins playing rhythm guitar, by the way.

4 stars out of 5

Rick Anderson (courtesy of the All Music Guide website)