(First appeared in The Rocket magazine, 4/22/98)
Gas Huffer are a hard band to crack. Their rough-and-tumble attack hasn't changed much over the years, yet their albums continue to be slow to engage the listener, which might explain why so-called "Gas Huffer fans" only cling to but one or two of the band's releases. The Seattle troupe's fifth proper LP, Just Beautiful Music (Epitaph), follows the same lead of its past efforts: It requires patience, continued listens--back-to-back even. And eventually, like gum in hair, it sticks, and sticks for good.
Just Beautiful Music is a surprisingly strong album, surprising, because as the band gets up there in age, one might expect it to phone in its albums--coasting on reputation and past achievements. On this album, Gas Huffer embrace the same ol' styles they've embraced before--caffeinated, chugga-chugga rockers, swampy waltzers, greasy blue-collar punkers, quirky lyrics--but they're playing with spunk and gusto that this record doesn't sound as tired as the band members (vocalist Matt Wright, drummer Joe Newton, bassist Don Blackstone and guitarist Tom Price) look. Most of the album's 16 songs are dead-on solid.
Like earlier Gas Huffer releases, Just Beautiful Music's genius depends largely on the wacky and clever stories that Wright frames. The vocalist can take the most mundane of human conditions--washing dishes, removing an appendix or moving pianos--and, like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, turn them into fun-filled, even dramatic adventures with surprises around every corner. In many cases, it's Wright's presence, even if he isn't the greatest of singers, that enables Gas Huffer to warm up to the listener. "The Last Act," from the new album, is about a guy so down on his luck he turns himself into a human bomb: "Once he was happy and hardy and hell/He'd drink with his friends every night without fail/Now his ashes flown off in a trail." Wright also shines on "Old Man Winter." Over a punk rock sprint, Wright chats: "Old man winter takes the colors far away/Paints over the sunshine with his beard of gray/What happened to the ceiling/I'll set the stars a reeling/I don't like this feeling/Yeah you can't bet I won't come out today."
Just Beautiful Music isn't Gas Huffer's best work--the band peaked with 1994's Once Inch Masters--but it's certainly a step up from their 1996 release, The Inhuman Ordeal of Special Agent Gas Huffer. For all intents and purposes, this album could be Gas Huffer's last (it's the last one on the band's Epitaph contract). They still have some mileage in the old beast, but unless they're willing to completely reinvent themselves--which isn't likely--the band has probably taken this thing as far as it can go. Just Beautiful Music, then, is a strong and positive note to go out on.