Electric Six: Fire

Electric Six: Fire
Label: Beggars XL
Release Date: 2003
Review Date: 2003

Imagine a crazy world where Kiss made disco songs… Oh wait, that already happened in this dimension. Imagine if they were intentionally funny instead of embarrassing like “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” is. The Electric Six are a gang of rockin’ dudes with a capital “D” who hail from Detroit. Formally called “the Wild Bunch,” (can you say “cease and desist?”) Electric six are infamous for their live shows. While the one live show I saw was certainly entertaining, it was certainly nothing to write home about. Electric Six is all high concept schtick based on euro disco meets heavy rock. A little like Spinal Tap meets a Night at the Roxbury. While some of the songs are near god-like, the rest are… less than. Overall these guys run the risk of having a few minutes of internet fame via the hilarious videos, and then not being able to capitalize on the popularity. Songs like “Gay Bar” are God-like, a fact that is driven home in the video featuring a Civil War Whitehouse turned into a gay bachelor pad by a gaggle of swinging Abe Lincolns. Other songs like “High Voltage” are definitely helped along by the presence of the video. The problem with these guys is that you can’t talk about the songs (mostly) on their own merit without mentioning the weird personas and wacky vocal affectations. And after all, it didn’t really work long term for Sigue Sigue Sputnik. To really get the most out of the album you have to pay attention to it, kind of like a guy watching a movie and constantly going “Get it? Did you get it?” Pretty much every song has the words “fire,” dance floor” or “war” in it, not to mention lyrical references to other songs and a keyboard riff from a Gary Numan song. Who doesn’t like to have fun though? Fire is a lot of fun, but it might end up in your yard sale pile in a few years. Did I mention that “Gay Bar” is almost the most perfect song ever written?

Online Action: electricsix.com
Online Action: XL Recordings