The Afghan Whigs - Uptown Avondale

In August 1992 the Afghan Whigs booked three days at Ultrasuede in Cincinnati and cut five soul covers, mostly live, mostly first takes. Uptown Avondale was the result, and it is the record that made the band's stated soul obsession impossible to dismiss as posturing.

They open with Freda Payne's "Band Of Gold" and immediately do the thing that makes this EP work: they do not camp it up, they do not slow it into a dirge, they just play it straight and let Greg Dulli's voice crack where it needs to. "True Love Travels On A Gravel Road" gets the Percy Sledge treatment, "Come See About Me" strips the Supremes down to guitar and menace, and Al Green's "Beware" runs nearly seven minutes without ever losing its nerve. The closer, "Rebirth Of The Cool," is the band's own, a reworking of the hidden track from Congregation.

It is thirty minutes long, it was recorded for almost nothing, and it remains the most purely enjoyable thing in the catalogue. Sub Pop released it as the band's last record for the label before Elektra came calling.

This Sub Pop reissue presses the five track mini album on 180 gram black vinyl at 45 RPM, housed in a black cardstock inner sleeve with a download coupon included.