The Afghan Whigs - Black Love (20th Anniversary Edition) (2016) [Hi-Res]

In 1996, The Afghan Whigs, had toured the world. Their follow up album would not be Gentlemen II. Black Love turns 20 this year, and Mute are celebrating with a special edition, out on 25 November 2016.

Released in the spring of 1996, Black Love was the Afghan Whigs’ fifth studio album overall. The music was inspired by lead singer Greg Dulli’s idea to make a film noir movie. Although the film was never made, it did help inform the album’s dark tone and fuel songs like the singles ‘Honky’s Ladder’ and ‘Going To Town’. The album opener, “Crime Scene Part One” was inspired by the screenplay for The Million Dollar Hotel, while ‘Blame, Etc.’ reflected on the troubled life of Temptations singer David Ruffin.

Black Love (20th Anniversary Edition) includes nine previously unreleased recordings. Among the standouts are acoustic versions of ‘Going To Town’ called: ‘Go To Town’ and ‘Crime Scene Part Two’. Also included is a demo for fan favourite ‘Faded’, which closed the original album, as well as a solo piano cover of the New Order classic ‘Regret’. The unreleased material also highlights the band’s creative process with ‘Mick Taylor Jam’ and ‘Wynton Kelly Jam’.

„Where some artists write from the head and others from the heart, Whigs' songwriter/frontman Greg Dulli writes from the groin. Filled with dark images of romantic obsession, Black Love is more like a movie than an album with each musical image building on the next. Perhaps no other band can play with such restraint, letting musical tension build until it can do nothing other than explode. Dulli is in his finest voice, moving from desperate screams to a quiet sinister crooning at the turn of a chord. Guitarist Rick McCollum plays everything from '70s funk to '90s grunge without missing a beat, and the rhythm section of John Curley (bass) and Paul Buchignani (drums) is as tight as they come. If '93's Gentlemen left any doubt about the true talent of the Whigs, Black Love puts it to rest.“ (Bill Snyder)

Greg Dulli, lead vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, timpani
Rick McCollum, guitars, pedal steel, hammered dulcimer
John Curley, bass, Arp synthesizer, guitar, vocals
Paul Buchignani, drums, percussion
Additional Musicians:
Harold Chichester, organ, clavinet, Fender Rhodes, piano, vocals
Doug Falsetti, percussion, vocals
Shawn Smith, vocals
Jeffrey Reed, effects
Barbara Hunter, cello
Jeff Powell, vocals

Recorded August-September 1995 at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN
Produced by Greg Dulli

Digitally remastered