Joe Lewis is stuffed into a van with his six bandmates, as they hurtle across Texas to a gig. Most of the guys are sleeping now, content in the knowledge they've just made the record of their lives. All killer, no filler, the fittingly titled, take-no-prisoners Scandalous - once again produced by Jim Eno, moonlighting from his main gig as Spoon's drummer - is a churning slab of rock & roll, blues and funk, laced with a double shot of 100-proof punkitude.
Like his forebears, Lewis writes from direct, often bitter experience with unflinching veracity. The songs of Scandalous are littered with the debris of age-old issues: hard times and one-night stands, lying and cheating, redemption and revenge. Gritty, raunchy and real, his music is not for the squeamish, but experiencing it fully can be genuinely cathartic.
Deluxe LP Package includes 6 Bonus Tracks and the standard album on CD.