There is Michael Bublé and there is Ghosts of Progress. Two sides of the same coin, you might say. Well, you might say that if you had completely lost your way and failed to notice the displaced malevolence in the Montrose duo’s album “Exchange Your Problems For Dope & Whisky“. Yes, only two of them and yet so many anger management issues…
You’ve got to admire the way Ghosts of Progress completely bypass political correctness. Having “Anal Blues” as a song title would be enough to get you put on an awareness course but the lyrics (“spends her weekends spit shining dicks”) would take them all the way from social commentary to social worker in precisely three minutes and thirty three seconds. You might well have gathered by now that this is not a band that values subtlety and as those overdriven guitars crush “Headcase” into your skull then you realise that there is but one thing to do – drink a lot of whisky – for after about half a bottle you’ll have the volume at 11 and Michael Bublé’s picture will be on the dartboard.
As a wise man once said: “Don’t accept the bland that confronts you every day” and, although the sound quality of this album may be a bit shit and the playing often scrappy, Ghosts of Progress (glory be!) are certainly not bland. In fact, I now know what aviation fuel sounds like. Where did I put that Zippo?