Coming Soon: Karl Hendricks Trio's Gesture Gets Digital Reissue

If one song can sum up the mid-'90s, or more precisely all the stand-out losercore for riot nerrrrrds committed to magnetic tape therein, a strong argument can be made that Karl Hendricks Trio's cataclysmic, bilious "Foolish Words Of A Woman In Love" is such a song. The tune -- from the Pittsburgh-based act's ace 1995 set A Gesture Of Kindness originally pressed to CD by Fiasco and later by Spirit Of Orr -- features Mr. Hendricks at his most acerbic, lyrically. You may recall we wrote about it before here. Every moment of this song seethes, from the opening line ("I listened to 'Wild Horses' forty-seven times in a row still trying to figure out why you had to go") to the sledgehammering coda ("Did you just change your mind? Or were you lying to me the whole time? Was it someone else you were thinking of or just the foolish words of a woman in love?"). In keeping with the heavy vibe, it sounds like there are 15 guitar tracks on this number, and the entire proceedings threaten to combust at any given moment (which, incidentally, they do during "Your Damned Impertinence," which closes out Gesture in apocalyptic fashion). Jon Solomon's increasingly important Comedy Minus One enterprise -- which recently issued a limited edition Oxford Collapse 12" Hann-Byrd -- digitally issues a remastered version of A Gesture Of Kindness this month. We just checked EMusic (and ITunes, and AmazonMP3) and the set is not available yet (although For A While, It Was Funny is, and we've only ever had that on cassette, so yay for us).

Anyway, "Foolish Words" is but one highlight of the collection; also on board is the devastating "The Scoffer's Reply" and "King Beds And Morning Coffee." The digital release also includes two additional tracks: "Coming In September" and "They May Be Paper," where were released as opposite sides of a single around the same time as Gesture. While A Gesture Of Kindness is really a record that deserves to be owned in a physical format, Mr Solomon once again makes his nation proud by providing the important service of making available to the disaffected masses an important Karl Hendricks recording. We reviewed Mr. Hendricks' most recent set, The World Says, here in May 2007. For now, feast your ears on some "Foolish Words."

Karl Hendricks Trio -- "Foolish Words Of A Woman In Love" -- A Gesture Of Kindness
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[buy A Gesture Of Kindness from EMusic here soon]

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