Aufabwegen

Lassiter has been described as a "cowboy band from Linz," which is in Austria. On this set of 16 songs they sing in the German language native to Linz as well as the English language in which country & western fans are used to hearing their chronicles of tears, trucks, and trains. The overall success of the German tracks both reverses and proves a point made in the past about the popularity of country in the countries of Germany and Austria themselves — and not just among the younger generation to whom mastery of English represented the key to the rock & roll kingdom as well as more success chatting up tourists. "It is actually the feeling, the motion of country & western that is appealing, not the lyrics," wrote Hank Gonzalez in the late '70s, prior to leaving his career as a musicologist in order to run for city council in Austin. "Most people associate country with certain subjects but this is really an illusion; the words to the songs are like showing someone a picture of their mother while you pick their pocket, or feed them a hot dog." This sort of crackpot opinion may or may not be helpful in analyzing creative works such as the Lassiter song repertoire, which combines cover versions from both country & western and rock & roll with originals either written solely by guitarist and singer Christian Lassiter or in tandem with his partner, guitarist and singer Axi Lasselsberger. These two are consistently great in combining their guitars, some of the more rocking bits bringing to mind the sound of classic country-rock records such as the Beatles' "What Goes On." Less consistent is their approach to the English language, although in terms of quality there is certainly consistency: the German vocals sound fantastic; the English ones a little off, at best like a drunk guy trying to sound like he's not drunk and at worst like a Serbian war criminal trying to pass himself off as a native of Houston, also after a few sips of something alcoholic. Writing German lyrics seems to be a better way to go — at any rate it certainly works wonderfully on a Hank Williams adaptation. As the program winds to the close the feel modernizes slightly with covers of Danzig and Roky Erickson, the former of course being the same tune Johnny Cash already tried on, "13." Nice use is made of guests on violin, keyboards, and accordion.