Sunday, October 21, 2018

THE PREACHER'S KIDS, 'Devil's Hitlist' [re-imagined LP]

Preacher's Kids 

THE DEVIL'S HITLIST    (2005)


French Blues (Spanish Boots)
Blow You a Kiss
Devil's Hitlist
Good Times Are Still Yet to Come
Is This Love*  (7" version)
Crooked Road
------------
I Wanna Be a Lost Cause
Young Lovers
Two Sides to Every Coin
Childhood on the Rocks
Tonight is Gone Tomorrow**
Haunted By Desire**


This is the third album by singer-songwriter Tyler Keith and his band The Preacher's Kids. It was originally self-released in 2007 belatedly following line-up changes and a split from their label Get Hip! Records (which released their previous album Wild Emotions in 2003). It included 12 songs and there was also a pair of vinyl 45 singles released, as well. "Is This Love" was a different version from the album with backing vocals featured in the mix. The flipside was a cover of "Don't Talk to Me" by G.G. Allin and The Jabbers sung by guitarist Johnny Valiant. "French Boots" was the 2nd single backed with a cover of "20th Century Boy" by T-Rex sung by drummer Frank Coutch. From what I know, the band was recording at Easley Studios in Memphis, TN. There was a fire at the studio at some point...and some of the tapes were thought to be lost. In 2011, a friend of mine (close to the band) revealed to me a CD-R with some rough cuts from the sessions. I heard an unfinished mix of the song "Ghost Writer" (a fan favourite that reportedly ended up having to be sourced from an MP3 rip for the album master) missing the wordless bridge section with its Beach Boy-style falsetto vocals (probably by guitarists Johnny Valiant and Talbot Adams--as well as bassist Van Thompson) along with two unreleased tracks--"Tonight is Gone Tomorrow" and "Haunted By Desire". The latter tune was reportedly intended to close the album but was mixed up with the similar sounding "Our Time to Live".  

To make an awesome album even better...I swap "Blow You a Kiss" for the inferior sound quality MP3 rip of "Ghost Writer" (which TK would later re-cut--among others--for his solo acoustic album Alias Kid Twist) and I add the two outtakes at the end. My only real quarrel with "Our Time to Live" is the hard one-sided mix of the vocal that makes it almost inaudible and definitely unintelligible. "Ghost Writer" is a fucking brilliant tune and the Easley Studio mix is unfortunately unfinished. I propose including that and "Our Time to Live" with rips of the previously mentioned vinyl 45 b-sides for a bonus E.P.




  1. Ghost Writer  [Easley Studio mix]**  
  2. Don't Talk to Me*   ["Is This Love"  7-inch]
  3. 20th Century Boy*    ["French Boots" 7-inch]
  4. Our Time to Live   [The Devil's Hitlist]

'DUST OFF THE RACKS' (2024 Mix) is now on Bandcamp!

AVAILABLE FROM BARELY THERE STUDIO!