Thee Headcoats: Head Box (4 CD box set) -album review

Thee Headcoats – Head Box  (Damaged Goods)

 4 CD Box inc Booklet

Release Date: 11th November 2022

A boxed set of 4 CDs featuring four classic albums by Billy Childish band Thee Headcoats – Headcoats Down! (1989), The Kids are all Square, This Is Hip (1990), Headcoatitude (1991) and W.O.A.H! Bo in Thee Garage (1991).  A decent beginners guide says Ged Babey – but once hooked, you need more, more, more….

Following the well-received and faultless Milk Box comes this, hopefully the first of a few collections by Billy Childishs’ 1989 -1999 incarnation, the most-loved and Worshipful Order of Thee Headcoats…. They released 19 albums in all (I think, it’s hard to keep track) and that doesn’t include the Headcoatees (their female offshoot band) so a whole stack of boxes potentially.

Thee Headcoats was a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was well known for its garage rock sound, explicitly sticking to this style on almost all of their albums. The band’s signature sound as well as their prolific writing has been attributed to Billy Childish’s love of simple, direct recording. The band has been on multiple labels including Billy’s own Hangman Records, Damaged Goods and Sub Pop.

Described in the New York Times as ‘the king of garage rock’… Their debut album featured new versions of songs recorded by Son House including ‘John the Revelator’ and ‘Child’s Death Letter’, both of which were later covered by The White Stripes upon whom Billy and Thee Headcoats were a great influence. These influences give a good indication of the band’s sound; punk mixed with pure rhythmic rock ‘n’ roll and blues.

The first Headcoats album I bought was the Shakin’ Street CD of Headcoatitude which i bought at a record fair for a pound.  A dealer had about twenty copies in a batch of bankrupt stock. I should’ve bought the godamned lot as they are worth £3.50 now on Discogs.

As a consequence of it being my First Headcoats album it is my favourite of the four in this box.  The W.O.A.H! Bo in Thee Garage one is my least favourite as the recording quality is the very roughest, with the vocal being both loud and muffled.

Hog’s Jaw is an example of Childish at his absolute funniest – creating a wonderful grotesque in a sublimely cartoonish manner.

Headcoats Down! and The Kids are all Square, This Is Hip! are both decent albums covering Billys usual themes: mainly the pursuit of women, but there are a lot of songs with their roots in stories and characters from childhood: Wiley E Coyote, Davey Crockett, Pocahontas and Nanook of the North and various references to ‘Cowboys & Indians’.  Headcoatitude had more of a Sherlock Holmes focus with My Dear Watson and songs about the wearing of the Headcoat – the deer-stalker, favoured Don Craine and the Downliners Sect, who were very influential on the Headcoats sound.

In a recent interview Childish playfully insisted that ‘Even the best albums have only two or three really good songs. Four if you’re lucky.’  He wasn’t talking about his own, by the way, but added, that him making so-many albums meant he had a lot of good ones to his name.

I initially preferred the more personal/pissed off songs like All My Feelings Denied and Troubled Times – the Kinks influenced ones, and I Wonder Why People Don’t Like Me and Everybody Lies – the Richard Hell inspired ones. I can now appreciate that even in Headcoats Billy had many strings to his bow, taking influences from everywhere: the blues, Bo Diddley, r’n’b, punk rock as well as his childhood reading material and his abuse and relationships. It all makes up the man, the artist.

There are a few very good career-spanning compilations of Billys work – but you never quite get the full picture.  Like he said long ago in his Hangman manifesto – either all or none are special.  It’s all.  Start with these four, unless you already have them.  Even then, they’re handy for the car CD player…

Buy from here

All words Ged Babey

We have a small favour to ask. Subscribe to Louder Than War and help keep the flame of independent music burning. Click the button below to see the extras you get!

SUBSCRIBE TO LTW

Source: louderthanwar.com