Blacktop 'I Got A Baaad Feelin' About This' (1995)
A remarkably prophetic title for the first and only album from Blacktop. Formed as a collaboration between former Gories leader Mick Collins and Fireworks frontal lobe Darin Lin Wood, the band staggered through sessions for one album, a U.S. tour, and a second session that resulted in a few singles before personal conflicts and chemical dependence issues caused the band to collapse after little more than a year. It's hard to imagine Blacktop having an especially long shelf life, given the often scattershot recording habits of the principals and the band's dark, swampy monochromic sound, but they sure blazed bright during their short existence. The blues-shot noise of Collins' primitive guitar work and scruffy vocals find a superb counterpoint in Wood's rockabilly-from-hell guitar runs, and the subsonic bass of Alex Cuervo and minimalist percussion thump of Janet Walker pushes the songs forward with muscular assurance while keeping the proceedings suitably creepy. Unlike the frantic high-treble twist of the Gories, Blacktop oozes a dark menace on these sides, and this stuff ranks with the least wholesome party music ever committed to tape. - Mark Deming, All Music Guide
