From today's USA Today, a capsule review by Brian Mansfield:
The Damnations TX, "Half Mad Moon" (***) The garage-style Stax beat that
opens "Unholy Train" shows right from the start that there's more going in
with the Damnations TX than most alt.country bands. If echoes of the
Louvin Brothers show in sisters Amy Boone and Deborah Kelly's harmonies,
it's only because they learned them from listening to X's Exene Cervenka
and John Doe (me: Huh???). "Commercial Zone Blues" and "Black Widow" show
a college-town urbanism. Rob Bernard's banjo brings rusticity to "Spit and
Tears" and "Kansas." The punked-up twang may give this Austin, Texas, trio
its attitude, but ultimately those harmonies are the Damnations' saving
grace. 30
The record's out today so I guess I'll judge for myself what a band sounds
like that cops its harmonies off of Ira, Charlie, Exene and Doe. -- Terry
Smith
