Aunt Betty's


review by Ben Guyer



Aunt Bettys: Aunt Bettys - EastWest/Elektra, 1996 - Total Time: 48:36

Anyone who is shocked by this cd has obviously forgotten who they are dealing with. This is Mike Knott we're talking about here. Knott has always been rather controversial, the controversy most likely starting back in 1987 with the release of LSU's "Shaded Pain" album. Ever since then, Knott has been putting out albums but he had yet to generate the same amount of controversy as that album caused. Enter Knott's new band, the Aunt Bettys. The first track, "Jesus," actually sounds like something LSU could have/would have done. Some would say that it is a newer version of "Tonight" as heard on the Fluid disc but in reality, Knott wrote "Jesus" before "Tonight." The end of "Jesus" finds Knott screaming "I'm getting out" over and over and over again before the song stops in a mass amount of feedback. The album deals with a number of interesting subject matters, ranging from anti-abortion (Mother Trucker), to the rolling stones (Skinny Bones Jones), to sex changes (Feel), to songs about drunk men saying "I don't love you at all, I'm going home to my suicide sex doll" (Suicide Sex Doll). The most controversial thing about this album has been the subject matter. Like on the "Rocket and a Bomb" CD, you have to listen to the lyrics. These are not the easily understood lyrics that were heard on CDs such as "Grace Shaker" or "This is the Healing" or "Wakin' up the Dead." These lyrics require careful examination if you want to understand what is being said. Take for instance the song "Feel," which is about a guy who is so obsessed with a woman that he would get a sex change because she is in love with another woman. On the surface it doesn't sound like anything Knott would do but the main point of the song is the chorus line - "I could do anything." The chorus line comes across as being more about Knott himself, a depraved human capable of any act, that about the guy Knott is singing about in the song. The songs here are still autobiographical but Knott seems to refer to himself more in the third person than in the first person. It's almost like part of the characters he sings about are part him, part them. It's fascinating to listen to, really. Three of Knott's LSU/Mike Knott songs make it onto this project - "Rocket and a Bomb," "Kitty Courtesy," and "Double." All three have either been rewritten lyrically or musically, and in the case of "Rocket and a Bomb," it is barely even the same song. The lyrics and music have been totally redone and the only part that long time listeners will recognize is the chorus line which is the same here as it was on the "Rocket and a Bomb" CD. "Rocket and a Bomb" is probably the most notably biographic of the songs on the Aunt Bettys CD. It finds Knott expressing anger at God but at the same time not blaming God for Knott's current predicament - "I tried to speak some of what I feel...shame your bride again." The end of the song finds Knott screaming sh!t repeatedly until the song is over. Musically this is the best that Knott has sounded for a long time. In fact, it's probably his best musical effort to date. Guitarist Andrew Carter is an incredible soloist and Knott did well in picking him as the Aunt Bettys lead guitarist. Long time friend and collaborator Brian Doige keeps a good handle on the bass and sometimes drummer Chuck Cummings does a great job of keeping rhythm on the drums. As far as subject matter, this album is not written from the point of view of the struggling Christian that Knott has often portrayed. Instead, this album is written from the point of a struggling human who spends just as much time wrestling his own demons as he does laughing at the ridiculous plight of humans. If nothing else, this is an album of brain food for those who are willing to try and figure out what Knott is trying to say. It's one of his most thought provoking works to date.



Another Review


Be warned. This is not even remotely a Christian record. If you come to it looking for Christian content, not only will you not find any, you will most likely be offended by a song or two. Rather, this album is Mike Knott's secular project. Fans of LSU, The Lifesavers, and Knott's solo work take note. This is essentially the same band that made the Grace Shaker record, and musically, Knott and company have rarely, if ever, been in finer form. This flat out rocks. Take Knott's recent singer/songwriter styled works and layer over them, if you will, a flat-out full band assault. (This is precisely what has been done with the reworked version of Rocket and a Bomb's "Kitty Courtesy".) The result is a collection of songs that in the span of seconds can alternate between intelligent vulnerability and an all-out sonic assault. And a lot of the songs are just a lot of fun. "Mother Trucker," "Star Baby," "Speeder Mode," and "Rock and Roll" will all send many listeners leaping for the repeat button. If it's this much fun, why the warning at the beginning? Well, this was written with the secular market in mind, actually probably more so with the idea of shocking the secular market in mind, so the lyrical content is somewhat less than pristine. Knott breaks out some of the "words not to be used in polite company" on a couple of occasions, and at least half the songs deal openly with issues surrounding sex and alcohol. It seems decently fair to describe this record as being pretty straight-up sex, drugs, and rock n roll--not exactly a favored combination in contemporary Christian music circles. The most disturbing lyric appears in "Feel," a lovely little tune about a man who becomes obsessed with a lesbian and presents a list of things he'd be willing to do to gain her affections. It's not a very pretty picture. Musically, this is some of the best stuff we'll hear this year. It stumbles only a couple times throughout the album ("Addict" and "Suicide Sex Doll"). If the only issue for you is what it sounds like, or if you're an obsessive completist with a thing for Knott's music, you'll want this. If you're looking for Christian content, you'll probably want to stay away.

--Todd Brown



Here's one more


One might be inclined to think that Michael Knott's tortured howl on "Jesus," the first track from Aunt Bettys' self-titled debut is aimed at the Christian music industry: "I'm gettin' screwed, I'm gettin' used I'm gettin' kicked, I'm gettin' tricked, I'm gettin' out Getting out, getting out, getting out... " Then again, maybe he's just being Knott--guaranteeing the raising of a few eyebrows in every sector. As with most things that Knott puts his name to, interpretation is everything. This offering from the latest incarnation of Knott's seminal alternative powerhouse Lifesavers Underground--the only one to ever land a major-label record deal--is everything Christian music industry types worried that it would be, and then some. Aunt Bettys takes the listener on a raw, lurid ride on the fringes of pop culture, stopping to visit all the places and people suggested in the album's artwork--a motley bunch, to be sure. Knott has used his disillusion and the sad fact that there is more artistic freedom to be found on a mainstream label to create a bizarre, almost comic-book world that is also strangely real. Such is Knott's great gift for songwriting: that he can write a lyric like "She started dancin' like a mad-hatted star-gazin' love makin' nympho-killin' psychotic tail-waggin' cloth-rippin' body whipper Needless to say, we were dumbfounded... " and still make us feel for the poor "Lush." Aunt Bettys is much more than just Knott throwing off of the chains of expectation and obligation from an industry that too often scorned what it rarely understood. There is a blistering undercurrent of anti-drug sentiment here, most notably in songs like "Addict" and "Little Fighter." The difference now is that Knott can follow his characters even further down their often self-destructive paths. Other interesting topics are also covered in inimitable Knott style: alien abduction in "Star Baby," cannibalism in "Kitty Courtesy," which includes the tasty lyric: "She never lets me in Whenever she's cookin' Don't you find that kind of queer? That woman's so old and scary You know once she was married But her husband disappeared" and sexual tension in the gender-bending "Feel." The Bettys take a humorous turn with "Skinny Bones Jones," a satirical poke at so-called "dinosaur bands"--at least on the surface. However, as with most of the tracks on the album, it's not hard to read something autobiographical into it: "What's up with this band? It's been around forever Played New York City before most of the world was born Made it big, made it bigger, made it biggest But it keeps on comin' back all tattered and torn..." Aunt Bettys serves up a delicious slice of Southern-California pop-punk, combining L.S.U.'s sonic fireworks with the melodic singer/songwriter feel of Knott's solo work. This is especially impressive when you note that three of the album's tracks ("Double" and the revamped "Rocket And A Bomb" and "Kitty Courtesy") are culled from previously released Knott and L.S.U. projects. Knott's voice drips with passion on every song, and he does an amazing job of holding the listener at arm's length with attitude-laced vocals (no one double-tracks his own voice like Knott does, and killer harmonies don't hurt, either), and then effortlessly drawing one in with an intimate Knott-and-guitar moment. The rest of the band is in stellar shape on what is easily the best-mixed album I have heard this year (kudos to Knott, Gene Eugene and Mark Rodriguez). Lead guitarist Andrew Carter gets the gold star for tone, and displays a heck of a lot of rhythm for a lead player. Knott's longtime compatriot Brian Doidge, who has played both lead and bass guitars for L.S.U.. plays bass this time around, and sometime-L.S.U. drummer Chuck Cummings rounds out the four-piece. Whatever led to it, Knott and Co. have crafted a fantastic and thought-provoking album. It will no doubt draw fire for its content and its attitude (is that "Ship! Ship!" that Knott cries in "Rocket And A Bomb"?), but fans of Mike Knott and his bruised and battered psyche should not be disappointed. John J. Thompson perhaps puts it best: Knott is "a living example of dangerous art... Sometimes he scares the hell out of me. It's good to be scared. Thank God for him." --Bob Melvin discography/bAck tO thE OrchArd/

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