Pigs, The – Horses

The Pigs – Horses
CD review by Chris Spencer

This isn’t an album for you new age folk!
The Pigs travel a similar road to the Fargone Beauties.
Instead of interpreting well known songs in a country genre, this band uses bluegrass.
The band have been around since 2005 and this is their second album, which was recorded in 2009.
Their first – The Pigs – was released in 2007.
The band also use comedy to entertain, but be warned the comedy is sometimes a bit gross.
“Morning Movement” is about constipation while “Hey Christina” uses such lines as: “Hope you lose your car at Ikea; Hope you never find that comfortable bra”.
Good fun?  Depends…
You can tell I’m not up with current pop  music, as I did not realise that “Single Ladies” was a cover of Beyonce’s, or more probably, The Pigs disguised the song so well that I didn’t realise it was a song I’ve probably heard in the background at many shopping centres.
Other covers that the band de-construct on this album include Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” which appears to me to be an anti-war song; Daft Punk and Kenny Rogers.
“Macho Moisturiser” tells the story of a macho man who uses moisturiser to keep his skin moist and youthful.
“Ignition Remix” is a brisk bluegrass workout and another cover.
Despite its lyrical content, “Morning Movement” is sung in a serious manner, it could be Johnny Cash singing!
Both “The Machines are Singing” and “Little Bob Dreams” are straight forward ballads.
“O the Gambler” uses elements of the Kenny Rogers’ song, “The Gambler”, but the arrangement is much more complex, with the band having a bit of fun with typical cowboy trappings.
“Push it” is lost on me because I’m not familiar with the original, “Have you Ever?” is a brisk bluegrass number; “At the Mall” is a comic send-up criticism of large shopping centres based around malls.
If you’ve seen the band live and enjoyed their stage show, you might want to own the CD so that you can be amused at home.
If you like bluegrass, the music on the album is well played, but the arrangements and lack reverence to the genre might annoy you.