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Album Details

• Artist: Nic Armstrong & The Thieves
• Album: The Greatest White Liar
• Label: New West
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: hstisgod on 2007-02-06

I promised this review so long ago I'm ashamed to write it. I was a SXSW stage hand in '05 when these guys came roaring across my fourty-five minute life. Lot's of great bands came along that year, but we'll get to all that in a bit.

Remember watching the series, The Monkees? I do, I was about four or five and saw reruns daily sometimes. Throughout that series, I must've in some child way wondered if this music would ever spin off into my future tastes. Nic Armstrong and The Thieves have that in a new Garage Rock band feel.

I'd be a gratuitous fool amongst my peers telling you how similiar Armstrong's are to that of Jack Whites' pipes, how's that comparisson ya evil hacks?!?! It's not all about the Contemporary Garage feel though, you can have your upbeat blues bar sound and eat it too. Track four "Down Home Girl" kind of mushes together a blend of all ages Rockabilly. "I'll Come To You" is where Armstrong resembles a bastard son of Paul McCartney, but with limits. Maybe it's just stronger digital recording times, who knows. Either way, for all intensive purposes, this would be the title track as chants of "The Greatest White Liar" lead to the outro.

Intelligently the next song "Back In that Room" picks up the fallen pace, and sets the tone for the rest of the record. Towards the end Armstrong sounds like an English but always whiny Axl Rose with a bit more taste. Right back to that fun watered down Rockabilly, and not necessarily the Garage sound I was referring to. "She Changes Like The Weather" is an upbeat example of this.

Lots of low and distorted guitars have a crunchy feel. Then the random track peaks nice and acoustically with echoed group hymns. It's all fairly inside of one nice unnamable genre. Though you'll be frustrated trying to discern most of these tracks from each other, a good 10-15 spins straight through would cure that. Certainly an acquired taste, "The Greatest White Liar" gets a strong 3 out of five star rating.

Back to seeing these guys live...

At that very same festival, bands like The Brazilian Girls, Bedouin Soundclash, The Honorary Title, Jimmy Chamberlin and Bear Vs. Shark all played that week. So officially, my apologies to Nic and his finely co-ordinated Theives who deserved that SXSW spot as an up and coming talent.

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