Revenge for Imagined Slights

Upon viewing the fearsome guillotine and fateful penumbra blackening the cover of the Upper Crust's fourth studio album, Revenge for Imagined Slights, one is reminded that these are dark, dark times indeed for the genteel classes: their divinely righteous status questioned by so-called "enlightened" fools; their wealth challenged by low-born, self-important bourgeoisie wannabes; and their good sense challenged by gross demands that they should pay almost as much in taxes as worthless peasants. Why, the nerve! Accordingly, the Upper Crust's newest "rocquers" oftentimes concern themselves with far more sober subjects than the carefree salon gossip of yesteryear, including mental infirmity ("Hereditary Insanity"), quite ungentlemanly defensiveness ("Class Up the Ass"), and, worse still, open admissions of error ("I Stand Corrected"). Forsooth, during a particularly dreary stretch of musically accompanied prose, our lords even stoop so low as to publicly air their grievances in the ways of love most indiscreetly: from matrimonial weariness ("Long Table for Two") to outright abandonment by their ungrateful mistresses ("Coachman Ride On"), and even succumbing to — gasp! — prostitution ("Come Hither Fair Youth"). Gratefully, these uncomfortably candid tales of personal disgrace are nevertheless consistently backdropped by the familiar brand of unwaveringly confident and gay hard rocque boogie (crafted long ago by messieurs Young, Young, and Scott) that has long served these aristocratic gentlemen so well. Were it not for this persistent show of musical joie de vivre, one would come away terribly concerned about the Upper Crust's ailing wealth and health, as opposed to finding new hope that many more years of Maréchal amplifier-driven ribaldry awaits these fine gentlemen, amid many a powdered wig, stocking-and-slippered foot, and beauty spot.