Hayseed Dixie
Kiss My Grass: A Hillbilly Tribute to KISS
Dualtone
How American can you possibly get? Hard rock goes bluegrass when trio Hayseed Dixie rearrange classic favorites from masked demons KISS on this not-so-subtle tribute-cum-novelty album. They’ve already been through the AC/DC back-catalogue, so perhaps we should have seen this one coming. It’s classic stadium rock for the O Brother generation. Instrumentally, it’s an impressively tight affair. Certainly the most fun for those familiar with the original songs, there are enough hilarious moments on here to last us through at least one sitting before the joke gets old.
The pseudo-horny heavy breathing on “Heaven’s On Fire” matches the original’s ridiculousness, while “Cold Gin” and “Love Gun” are rendered in a calm, tear-jerking manner. With the near-insane collector madness instilled in KISS fans from years of ludicrous merchandise, Kiss My Grass will probably outsell new efforts from Your Favorite Indie Band. The really sad part, however, is that Hayseed Dixie come closer to doing something original than KISS themselves have done in well over two decades now.
Dualtone Records: http://www.dualtone.com/
