Deep

When Mother Superior fan Henry Rollins got a chance to produce the band's third full-length release, Deep, he became so impressed with the Los Angeles power blues trio that he asked them to become his backing band. The fact that a music snob of Rollins' proportion would give such a compliment to this little-known outfit says as much about their commitment to making quality rock music as anything else could. On Deep, Mother Superior's continued development as a performing unit and as songwriters should be evident and very pleasing to fans tired of retro blues-rock outfits more in tune with hip-hugging fashion consciousness than the music that made the early '70s one of rock's greatest eras. Guitarist/vocalist Jim Wilson, drummer Jason Mackenroth, and bassist Marcus Blake open things up even more on this 1998 release with full-throttle rockers like "Superman" and "Crawling Back," as well as on some near-punk/blues exercises like "Deep" that almost recall the transcendent soul of PJ Harvey. More expansive and jam-oriented than prior releases, Deep has a immediate live sound (probably thanks in part to Rollins) and a soulful purposefulness that makes it perhaps Mother Superior's finest recording.