Now, musically, The Shrubs were fine exponents of the Captain Beefheart dueling guitars in challenging time signatures method of composition.
But, unlike the Magic Band, they didn't have a singer to match the music.Former Henry Cow manager, Nick Hobbs had the microphone, and he irritates the fuck out of me! His over enthusiastic forced warbling outstays its welcome very quickly; as does his obvious desire to sound as weird and unusual as he thinks he is, which sounds as contrived as Don Van Vliet but without the artists sense of the Abstract that the late Beefheart obviously had.
Formerly called The Kevin Staples Band(despite not having anyone called Kevin Staples in the group!), they changed their name to the forgettable Shrubs'' moniker before they released this debut EP on Ron Johnson Records. And, the 'EP' format definitely suits them, to limit the listeners exposure to the grossly annoying Nick Hobbs, File under annoying lead singers, alongside Steve "Shirley" Solomar of The Spherical Objects, and Alan Jenkins of The Deep Freeze Mice.
Tracklist:
A1 Carbreaker 3:38
A2 Dead Teachers 2:55
A3 Warm Sea 3:20
B1 Black Saloons 3:33
B2 The Dealer 4:42
B3 Bullfighter 3:45