Congregation Afghan Whigs

• 1Her Against Me00:47
• 2I'm Her Slave03:00
• 3Turn on the Water04:19
• 4Conjure Me04:04
• 5Kiss The Floor04:00
• 6Congregation04:30
• 7This Is My Confession03:13
• 8Dedicate It03:22
• 9The Temple04:09
• 10Let Me Lie To You04:38
• 11Tonight03:42
• 12Miles Iz Dead05:06
• Total Runtime44:50

Info for Congregation

The third Afghan Whigs album, 1992's 'Congregation', turns on one clear thematic axis: relationships going bad. 'Congregation's' emotional terrain covers the straits between man and heroin ('I'm Her Slave') and those between men and women. Varying the Sub Pop 'grunge' formula, the Whigs stretch their wings musically, including several clean-sounding slow songs. If not for the subject matter, these could probably be called ballads. Drummer Steven Earle hammers out solid frames for Rick McCollum's guitar showmanship, but this is really singer and lyricist Greg Dulli's hour. His emerging persona as damaged sinner is in full force here. The aggressive, snarling predator of 'Conjure Me' promises to 'Turn on you, before you turn on me.' Elsewhere, Dulli offers the downright mean-spiritedness of 'you were only mean to me' ('This is My Confession') and a sickening transformation into 'Let Me Lie To You''s soothing crooner of 'I won't ever hurt you.' A secret bonus track, 'Miles Iz Dead,' closes the album with a chilling chorus of 'Don't forget the alcohol.'

'...the finest rock LP of the decade....nothing less than rock raping pop, a ferocious deflowering of Motown's romantic ideal...' (Melody Maker)

Greg Dulli, vocals
Miss Ruby Belle, vocals
Rick & Bubba, vocals
Rick McCollum, vocals, guitar
Lance, vocals, piano
Shecky Stein, piano
John Curley, bass, vocals
Steve Earle, drums
Shawn Smith, vocals, background vocals

Recorded July and August 1991 at Bear Creek; Woodinville, Washington and Buzz's Kitchen; Los Angeles, California.
Mastered by Jack Skinner at K Disc.
Engineered by Ross Ian Stein
Produced by Greg Dulli

The Afghan Whigs
are an American soul-influenced alternative rock band of the 1990s. While they achieved moderate success, Rolling Stone described the band as spending “the bulk of their career on the brink of stardom”—they’ve “never quite broken beyond a substantial legion of devotees enamored of their thinly veiled sleaze.”

Greg Dulli (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick McCollum (lead guitar), John Curley (bass), and Steve Earle (drums — not to be confused with country musician Steve Earle) formed the band in Cincinnati in 1986. Their 1988 debut album Big Top Halloween on their independent record label called Ultrasuede created a buzz in the independent music community, and the band soon signed to Sub Pop of Seattle in 1989, the first non-local band to do so. In 1990, Up in It was released; the blistering pace and yowling, effects-heavy guitars on tracks like “White Trash Party” gave no hint of the stylistic about-face to come. With the critically acclaimed 1992 album Congregation and a covers EP, Uptown Avondale, the Whigs adopted what became their signature sound: mid-tempo songs in minor keys complemented by gloomy angst-ridden lyrics.

The Afghan Whigs then signed to a major label, Elektra Records, and released another critically acclaimed album, Gentlemen that failed to break the band into the mainstream, though it spawned the minor hits “Debonair” and “Gentlemen”. They contributed “Fountain and Fairfax” to the soundtrack for the television series My So-Called Life in 1994.

For the next few years, despite personnel problems interfering with recording and touring, the band released two more albums – Black Love in 1996 (with Paul Buchignani taking over drumming duties) and 1965 in 1998 (with Michael Horrigan replacing Buchignani) on Columbia Records – before they broke up in 2001.

In 1994, Greg Dulli was a lead vocalist in the Backbeat Band, an alternative-rock supergroup that recorded the soundtrack to the Beatles biopic, Backbeat_. Other members of the Backbeat Band were Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Don Fleming (Gumball), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, later Foo Fighters) and Dave Pirner (Soul AsylumAsylum). The Backbeat soundtrack was produced by Don Was.

In 1996, Greg Dulli served as executive producer for the soundtrack for the Ted Demme film Beautiful Girls. The Afghan Whigs appeared in the film as a bar band and contributed the Frederick Knight cover “Be For Real” and the Barry White cover “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” to the soundtrack.

In 2006, according to Pitchfork Media, The Afghan Whigs have temporarily reunited. According to the Twilight Singers website, the most recent lineup is recording new material for a Rhino Records retrospective called Unbreakable.

Source: Wikipedia: The Afghan Whigs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This album contains no booklet.