Unbreakable: A Retrospective
One of the most talented, yet overlooked, bands of the nineties is the AFGHAN WHIGS. Led by Greg Dulli, this band was an unstoppable indie-rock force all the way through until their final release 1996. The band recently regrouped, however, and recorded two new songs for Rhino’s best-of collection,
Unbreakable: A Retrospective.
The retrospective spans the illustrious career of the band and features sixteen of the band’s most loved songs along with, as I said, two completely new songs. Since most of our readers have heard the older songs by this point, I’m going to stick with reviewing the two new songs rather than judging the labels choice of songs.
Initially, I loved “Magazine” and wasn’t feeling “I’m a Soldier” at all but that has changed since the first day that I got my hands on this record. I absolutely love “I’m a Soldier” now and honestly feel like it’s one of the best songs that the band has ever recorded. “Magazine” still sits just as high in my regards as it did when I first listened to it but I definitely grew in to the former.
“Magazine” is much darker and sounds a lot like it could have been pulled directly from the Whigs’
Black Love album while “I’m a Soldier” has a much more ‘poppy’ sound that is reminscient of the work they did just before calling it quits. Listening to this band really makes me question what radio execs are thinking when they choose the likes of Dave Matthews Band and Lifehouse over originaly bands like the Whigs.
As is obvious from this review, I love the Afghan Whigs and hearing the two new tracks from this album have restored my hope in finding good music being made. Pick up a copy of
Unbreakable: A Retrospective through Rhino Records and you’ll see what I mean.
