Feeling Lower than the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Me too, but this record is helping. When I heard it I finally believed that one guy with long hair and a green shirt who told me “Those Cats Can Really Play!” Rik and his deplorable Pigs imploded in 2018 but not before recording two final sessions in California - one with Mike Kriebel (The Beat Sessions guy), another with Tony Santos. They skipped town before paying the bill, but we’ve stepped in to pick up the tab because we think it’s a great value. The Pigs, man…those guys are the laziest delinquent sort of pig slobs ever born, but at least they’re well rehearsed. They’re salty from marinating in the degenerate RNR Dick Manitoba, Cheetah Chrome and Dave E gave us long ago and it shows. Ricky the cunning wordsmith delivers with weasel verve, as one with an actual Venus in Taurus would. There’s a rawness and honesty here that has more to do with 80s hardcore than the modern garage rock scene that has embraced them. “Lifes A Bust” is the hit - a scorching groove that lasts 7 minutes 26 seconds and still somehow feels too short. Play it at the bar and the people over 40 will be tapping their toes. “The Last Laugh” is probably a great gift for your father or father’s father, get it while it’s hot!Our take: The Last Laugh compiles tracks from two (very different) recording sessions Rik & the Pigs did just before they broke up in 2018, performing a mix of new songs and older ones that had appeared on the small pile of singles and tapes the band released over a couple of years. Rik & the Pigs had a distinctive sound that imbued snotty, early 80s-style punk (think Negative Trend or the Lewd) with a Stones-y swagger and a penchant for catchy choruses. The a-side tracks on The Last Laugh were recorded by Mike Kriebel (of Shout Recordings / the Beat Sessions), giving the Pigs a clear and beefy sound that’s very different from the fuzzy lo-fi recordings they put out when they were active. Rik & the Pigs sound great in hi-def, particularly on “Life’s a Bust,” a punk blues that adds two additional minutes of negativity to the version that appeared on a Feel It Records single in 2016. The b-side’s recording, courtesy Tony Santos, is rawer and fuzzier like the Pigs’ previous records. While the recording is nastier, the material is even more anthemic, particularly the Dead Boys-esque “It’s Alright.” More than just outtakes or leftovers, The Last Laugh is as good as anything Rik & the Pigs released when they were toast of the scene, and I’m glad Lumpy Records got this into the world for the faithful still carrying Rik’s torch.
