Dennis Hopper Choppers / Be Ready

Dennis Hopper Choppers
Be Ready
(D Wink)
* * *

If parody is the sincerest form of flattery then ‘Be Ready’, by the Dennis Hopper Choppers, is a paean to the steel-strung Americana of the past forty years. Whether it’s a case of tongue in cheek or heart on sleeve, DHC are at their best when paying homage to the likes of Orbison, Springsteen and Morrison.

The attention to detail on the album is immaculate - from the Hammond Organ of ‘Girl Walked out of Town’ to the Mariachi brass of ‘Good to Me’, the production is so devoted to capturing the warmth and tone of this musical era, it blurs the line between affection and caricature. The band’s atrocious namesake and occasionally woeful lyricism doesn’t help to alleviate the issue either, so perhaps it’s best to instead embrace this largely, gratifying debut. Bemoaning this record’s intentions begins to feel irrelevant whilst listening to the merry chamber pop of ‘All That I Once Thought’ or the Morricone grandeur of ‘Moscow Nights’.

Although things do come unstuck towards the end with clumsy garage rock (‘Razor Gang’) and murky synthesizers (‘Come to My Party’), this album remains a surprisingly, rich and intricate first release from a genuinely peculiar talent.

Thomas Norton