Royal Trux : Classic or Dud ?

I spent a good three years under the heavy sway of the trux. Twin Infinitives, s/t, Cats and Dogs and Thank You pulled me out of the grunge tarpit and made me ditch most of my AmRep records. That bluesy, classik rok swagger, that mystical druggy miasma, those voices. So fucking cool. I interviewed Hagerty around the time Thank You came out. It was great. He talked about the house they just bought in Virginia. How he hung bells on all the bushes on the property.

I have to admit, my exposure to their later albums is minimal. I'm going to have to rectify that.

I first saw them in 92 or 3 opening for mudhoney and was all - what exactly is going on here? Needless to say, I've been a devotee ever since.

My point: pound for pound = best album. Where's the love, people?

Yes. It's cosmic. Check it out. Check out it's cosmicness. Particularly deep country sorcerer. That song, in me, inspires awe and fear. Also this album has Dan Brown, which is a major plus. He is a ++ bassist and catcher. Small thief and sunshine and grease are so open and tender, platinum tips is titillating, call out the loins is triumphant; the whole album sounds like it was recorded really loud. It sounds good.

Because my geekiness has been peaked, I will now list their releases in order of greatness - eps, singles and (because I haven't heard them) the 3 NMH limited edition lps are excluded. Solo and collaborative works are included:

Pound for Pound
Royal Trux (3rd Album)
Cats & Dogs
Veterans of Disorder
Thank You
Neil Michael Hagerty - The Howling Hex
Sweet Sixteen
Accelerator
Neil Michael Hagerty - Plays That Good Old Rock n Roll
Singles, Live Unreleased (great songs, but the sequencing, ugh)
Royal Trux (1st Album)
Twin Infinitives
A Drag City Supersession - Tramps Traitors and Little Devils
Neil Michael Hagerty - Neil Michael Hagerty
The Howling Hex - All-Night Fox
Weird War - Weird War
RTX - Transmaniacon
The Drag City Hour
Hand of Glory

By the way, the label on the Introducing... record states that it is okay to digitally copy and distribute the album. I assume that the same permission is granted for the whole series.

Law man
you know you look to be a lot younger than me and
I'd hate to shoot a baby
you've got a long way to go before you're old and slow
and it could be
it could be a good time if you change your mind
well I'm tired and sweet from making love
and it's just too late
you'll have to wait
bring your business around here in the morning

well I've heard your line
and you've heard mine
and I'm just too tired to take a side
bring your business around here in the morning
Don't you want to be easy look there
let some of the things you see go on by or
you can burn them into your brain go on home
Don't you see the children, they're just like you
they want everything to be fine but they let it slide
and the laughing lets you know that smiling breaks the rules

Law breaker you know it could be me
and if you had your way we'd all be down
under the face of a clock that's just too old to be wound
and you can see now the old hands won't move around
one way or the other,
fool card brother this could be,
this could be, the first time.

Does anyone have the 3rd one?

1. "I'm Ready" - opening credits. As soon as the song abruptly explodes into existence, our hero is shown sitting straight up in bed in shock, facing the camera. As the song and credits continue, a sped-up montage shows him brushing his teeth, getting dressed, eating breakfast, walking out the front door, looking for a few seconds at an abused, dented dune buggy that sits in the family garage (foreshadowing), and riding his bike to school.
2. "Yellow Kid" - Hero sits mournfully in bathroom stall, having just been confronted by school bullies for being the "weird new kid" in front of an attractive young girl. He slams the bathroom wall with his fist in desperation. He IS the eponymous "Yellow Kid."
3. "The Banana Question" - Having gotten news that dune buggy racing is the hot teen activity in his new town, our hero decides to fix up his brother's old dune buggy, despite the fact that his brother was killed in a freak dune buggy accident. Another montage sequence ensues as he tightens bolts, polishes roll bars, gets squirted with oil, etc. Good wholesome teenage fun.
4. "Another Year" - Plays behind slo-mo footage of the race, the camera whips around often so the footage is blurred and chaotic. Sand flies as the buggies leap over the dunes, hanging suspended in the air. Our hero thinks he has a grasp on first place, but in an accident eerily close to the one that killed his brother, he spins out and collides with a palm tree.
5. "Juicy Juice" - Our hero, his arm now in a cast, has given up on dune buggy racing, has resigned himself to being unpopular for the rest of high school, and has taken a job working at an ice cream store in a mall. But who should walk in but the attractive girl from his school! As the camera slowly pans over her nubile young body, this song plays.
6. "Liar" - Our hero is confronted by his parents, who are angry that he has been racing and are afraid that he will be killed like his brother. But our hero is starting to regain his confidence and needs a way to impress the girl, so he rebels and says he will race in the state championship that weekend, and there's nothing they can do about it. Doors are slammed, tears are shed.
7. "New Bones" - Our hero and the girl have quickly fallen in love, he has confessed his fears of ever racing his dune buggy again, but she convinces him that he needs to race, and win, to honor his brother's memory. They kiss shyly, then passionately. Then they get really high on mushrooms and screw. This controversial scene earns "Accelerator" an NC-17 rating.
8. "Follow the Winner" - The climactic race. Spurred on by new love and his fresh lack of virginity, our hero has grown into a virile, manly specimen who intimidates the other racers with his masculine charm, making this an easy win for him. The lesson learned: Dune buggy racing is a sport of confidence and mind games, not to be trifled with by the weak.
9. "Stevie" - Following the award ceremony, the girl and the hero jump into the dune buggy and ride off into the sunset. Closing credits.

They kiss shyly, then passionately. Then they get really high on mushrooms and screw.

Then add maybe: an apocalyptic meteor shower, return to cave-living, mutant politicians and a talking cat. Um, scuba diving, pirates, helpful dolphins, skate boarding with a sail attached to it across the desert, jesus freaks and Vermont.

The Return of the Third Tower:
http://s36.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=19LHLBAHGED2U08QV8UKI6AM55

To me, Historia de la Musica Rock is like a Godz 2 kind of awesomeness!