Despite living in the same city, I only recently discovered Chicago's 96 Cougar through their latest single, "Hot Town (Bummer in the City)," a classic indie-oriented piece of work that spars with the cheesy '70s goodness of a Jon English number by the same name. I liked it enough that I went back and took a dive into their catalog and discovered the aptly titled The Cheapest Thrill. Big smiles, slashy live-wire guitars, tearful beer-swilling laments, and greasy ball antics fill this release to the brim and then some. More so than the single that introduced me to the band, this EP pulls into the present several dated models of rock and roll and gives them a fresh coat of lacquer and a full belly of liquor. It's like a revival of Al Stewart where ol' Al's tragically too fucked up to stay on his feet but is still somehow able to pop a pimple off the stage and directly into your eye with pinpoint accuracy. Other times they resemble Kris Kristofferson doing an ugly crying outside a CVS. But my favorite is when they come raining down like an imploding glam fest and impromptu hardboiled coliseum where Cheap Trick airdrops in on Supertramp and starts kicking the shit out of them like they've stuck the former with the bill at a restaurant, or owe them song royalties, or maybe just because. It's an album that doesn't lack for moments of high ambition and low-brow attempts at melodic grandeur ("Dr. Science",) and unwashed but soulful country crooning ("The Dog Days of Bummer"), but still, I can hardly hold it against the band when they kick into a comfortable gear, get blitzed out their gourds and let their angst play out at excessive volumes (See, "Ritalin Refill Blues), 'cause it all suits me, every shade and stripe, just fine. Life can feel like it last but barely a moment, so you need to get your thrills in while you can- the cheaper, the better.
