Henry Rollins - Hot Animal Machine

Label: Texas Hotel
Year: 1987

I shall forever give Henry Garfield a "pass" on whatever he does, no matter how ill-advised or corny it may appear (basically everything from 1990 onward). Much like his peers Glenn Allen Anzalone and Ian Mackaye, I cannot, and will not stand around and listen to you badmouth anything that they choose to do. Ever. Not gonna do it.
Henry Rollins was just too pivotal to my own personal history that he will forever be carved into the Mount Rushmore of personal heroes (along with Danzig, Ian Mackaye, probably like, Jeff Grosso and John Lucero, maybe Neil Blender, Raymond Pettibon, Pushead, Diego Maradona, and Woody Weatherman...it's a big mountain).
So, whatever, you can go ahead with your potshots about how he's a self-aggrandizing jock with no sense of humor, but I shall just wag my finger in protest and sigh deeply. I'll listen to this record and bask in my own assurance that I'm right, and Rollins will beat you up for arguing with me in the first place.

But, forget all that, let's just talk about this record for a minute. After Black Flag had taken a long walk into the wilderness not to return, Henry Rollins found the next logical outlet for his musical pursuits. A trip to England with a newly christened backup band (not quite yet the Rollins Band proper), to run through some new material, some blues vamps, and a few covers for good measure.
The band at the time was Chris Haskett (Rollins Band, Pigface) on guitar, Bernie Wandel on bass, and Mick Green on drums, and they perform what could be seen as a logical extension of the later era Black Flag material. Slower, jazzier, blues-ier, and more open, ready for Rollins to layer on his motivational speech lyrical jags. The covers included ones by Velvet Underground, Richard Berry, and Suicide.
At the same recording session, the band also recorded the Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters ep, crediting it to a "different band". These songs (including a Wire cover, and a sorta Queen cover) don't have the same tight punch the proper album tracks do, and veer into novelty territory, but regardless...just go for the ride with them.

Pettibon-esque cover art by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo

DL