Search - Jay Munly :: Jimmy Carter Syndrome

Where's the love?

G. Moses | Men...Of...The...Sea! | 03/22/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I find myself listening to Jimmy Carter Syndrome more than any other Munly album. None of the songs are as good as the best songs on Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots, but overall I think it's a stronger, more consistent album.



The album is bookended with two highlights: "My Darling Sambo" (no, it's not racist) starts things out with a bang, with an ominous vibe of barely-suppressed violence. The ghostly female vocals on the chorus are a highlight. It's the most accessible song on the album. Then, at the end, we are treated to "The Fabulous History of the Churchill Falls Barrel Races," an epic nine-minute shaggy dog story. There's nothing really overtly creepy about it, but there's it comes across as intangibly but deeply macabre nonetheless, and Munly's voice brings it across perfectly. I won't even try to summarize it. Explore it for yourself.



Highlights within the album include "Cooney vs. Munly," a seriously strange tribute of sorts to a (real-life) prizefighter named Jerry Cooney--who, Munly alleged in one interview, babysat him when he was a child. True? Who knows. But it's good fun, featuring, for obscure reasons, a chorus of rock and roll gibberish ("he sang wop bam a luba, wop bam boom, a tutti frutti, oh rudy"). Quite arresting. Also arresting is "Cattle I Will Hang." It's impossible to tell what the ending MEANS, exactly, but the badly distorted sexuality that runs through it is VERY disturbing.



There's lots of other stuff here. Most of it works; some of it doesn't. Regardless, Munly is a unique talent whose music is probably too willfully obscure to ever find a wide audience. But for those of us who are into this sort of dark, pentecostal, southern gothic gumbo, he's an artist to treasure."