Shiner - "Making Love EP"

Album review by Mark Cuthbertson

“Evolution is just a theory,” says Allen Epley before playing the opening notes to “Fetch a Switch,” an old staple from Shiner’s first album, Splay about a dysfunctional family. Through “Fetch” and the more intense “Third Gear Scratch,” “He/She,” and “Cake,” these four live tracks feature the veterans’ special recipe of full-bodied sweetness and dissonance, raw energy, and finesse with hooks to spare. Guitarist Joel Hamilton, who has since left the group, can be heard on each of these tracks making a good use of the second guitar part rather than merely doubling Epley. Hamilton’s presence and Epley’s live energy result in unique versions of these four Shiner songs, and the EP is a good buy for that reason alone.

The final track is a cover of the Bad Company classic hit, but hardly a faithful replication of the original. Shiner slows the tempo, replaces the bluesy guitar riff in the verse with a slow, lonelier-sounding arpeggio and fattens up the chorus riff with ninths and a thicker distortion, making Bad Company sound more like the London Choir Boy Company by comparison. Josh Newton’s keyboard part and Paul Malinowski’s synth bass both add the element of psychedelia to the mix.

--Mark Cuthbertson