Gentlemen by Afghan Whigs

Afghan Whigs: Greg Dulli (vocals, guitar); Rick McCollum (guitar); John Curley (bass); Steve Earle (drums). Additional personnel: Marcy Mays (vocals); Barb Hunter (cello); Harold Chichester (piano, mellotron); Jody Stephens (background vocals). Engineers: Jeff Powell, John Hampton, John Curley. Recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee between May and June 1993, and at Ultrasuede, Cincinnati, Ohio in April 1993. GENTLEMEN is a rare thing in rock music, a "concept album" so personal and painful that listening to it gives the impression of being privy to something that should never have been made public. Greg Dulli's lyrics about male inadequacies and overcompensation ring with uncontainable self-hatred and loathing. The shifting of emotions--from the brittle and internal to the brutal and external--forms the basis for the stagnancy and decay of the male/female relationships described here. Opening with a claustrophobic swirl, "If I Were Going" sets the mood, a warm bassline picking at the scabs of Du...