Search - Kim Salmon :: Record

Mr. Salmon is taking care of Business

Gus Robertson | Brisbane, Australia | 10/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Leaving behind indie-blues-swamp-rock outfit the Surrealists, Australia's Kim Salmon steps into the ring with a new band, The Business, punching above his weight with a brand new, slicker, funk'n'soul-flavoured sound. That ain't to say that Mr. Salmon ain't the hard-rockin', street-fightin' man that he's always been, just that this time he's put the gloves on. Mixing it up with scratch and horn instrumentals ("What's All This Business?", "Give Me Some Notes Mike"), big brassy, funking haymakers ("Disconnected", "Don't Fake It", and "Anticipation" co-written by Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three), and peppered with some more soulful slices ("Share It", "New Kind Of Angle", and "Saving Me From Me" which wouldn't be out of place on a Solomon Burke album), Salmon and the Business keep on moving and swinging enough to keep things interesting. Though assuming a distinctly poppier tone to Salmon's previous outings, there's always a slight sense of menace, a feeling of unease suffusing the lyrics and the arrangments, even in his lighter moments - captured and caged on the album's standout track "I'll Be Around": a subdued, chugging riff, clattering drums, sparse horn injections, and Mr. Salmon intoning with ominous relish: "I'm going out to get shot down, I'm going out to get my head tore up, I'll be around". If you want comparisons, think a more coherent Jon Spencer with a horn section, or Bukowski with a penchant for Motown instead of Mahler. Though it won't necessarliy put you down for the count, "Record" will leave you feeling a bit woozy, a bit dirty, but ready to go the distance and do the business with Salmon again and again."