Past Masterpiece of the Week (Jan 8-14, 2017): The Gun Club – Fire of Love (1981)


‘Fire of Love’ is the groundbreaking debut album from Los Angeles psychobilly band The Gun Club, released in 1981 on Ruby Records. The Flesh Eaters’ singer Chris D. produced five tracks on the album (“Sex Beat”, “Preaching the Blues”, “Fire Spirit”, “Ghost on the Highway” and “Jack on Fire”) at Quad Teck with Pat Burnette engineering. Tito Larriva produced the album’s other six tracks at Studio America with Noah Shark engineering. Chris D. was also credited with the cover design for the original release. Judith Bell was responsible for the bottle label illustrations on the rear of the cover.

The album is considered significant in being the first of its kind to combine the hard, stripped-down sound of punk rock with American roots music. In turn, this innovation helped to create the punk blues style as well as inspiring countless garage rock musicians. Several musicians have cited ‘Fire of Love’ as an influence.

Track listing:

A1 Sex Beat 2:45
A2 Preaching The Blues 3:58
A3 Promise Me 2:35
A4 She Is Like Heroin To Me 2:33
A5 For The Love Of Ivy 5:31
A6 Fire Spirit 2:52
B1 Ghost On The Highway 2:43
B2 Jack On Fire 4:40
B3 Black Train 2:11
B4 Cool Drink Of Water 6:10
B5 Goodbye Johnny 3:41

Released: 1981
Label: Ruby Records
Performers: Rob Ritter, Terry Graham, Ward Dotson, Jeffrey Lee Pierce

 

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