Holly Golightly - Serial Girlfriend (1999)

Recorded while still a member of Thee Headcoatees (she would leave the following year), Holly Golightly's sixth solo release is another winner from start to finish. If the production is a little rougher and more garagey than on subsequent efforts, her earthy charm, sardonic -- sometimes feisty -- attitude, and sure way with a catchy chorus are in full effect. As usual, there's a cool cover -- in this case a languid, reverb-drenched duet with Billy Childish on Ike Turner's "Your Love Is Mine" -- and a couple of angry numbers, "Come the Day" and opening track "I Can't Be Trusted" ("Why won't you see/I can't give you anything/But misery"). More unusually, Serial Girlfriend features an instrumental track, the rollicking "Grandstand," which allows Golightly to showcase her underrated prowess on the electric guitar, and the final track, "Now," comes close to a cappella in dropping (or at least minimizing) guitar, bass, and drums in favor of piano, chimes, and Golightly's distinctive voice. For anyone who's ever wondered what the early Beatles or Rolling Stones might have sounded like with a female front person, Serial Girlfriend -- in which drummer Bruce Brand channels Charlie Watts (circa "Get off of My Cloud") for "Down Down Down" -- is the highly enjoyable answer.~ Review by Kathleen C. Fennessy