Greyhounds make a sweet, hellacious racket for just three guys, the kinda music that makes club walls sweat and audiences claw at their clothes in search of release. Their charming gutbucket-y-ness recalls Buddy Guy ("Tight It Up"), slinkier Living Colour ("All Over (revised)"), and the throaty, hard blues of Los Lobos ("Don't Wait"), all given a nice head-snap swing that's very much their own. It's a laid-back but not lazy feel, relaxing into the pocket, then chasing down the groove like a rabbit on the track.
The opening cut simply repeats for a minute or so, “Gotta get back the Thunder-birdddddd!" It's a weird battle cry but it works, announcing their un-canned exuberance right away. Inside the booklet, they proudly announce, “Track 1-8 recorded and mixed in stereo at Mix-O-Rama in Austin, Texas in less than 3 hours." The album reflects this immediacy in raw, lusty performances delivered with clarity and just the right amount of dirt, resulting in the saucy attack of “Goodbye Girl" and “Sweet Misery," two cuts Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble would've been proud to serve up. However, SRV probably wouldn't have tucked the cool scatting and Wes Montgomery jazz accents into the tail of “Sweet Misery," nor the Bootsy Collins seduction mumblin' on “It's Alright" (which includes such sweet nothings as “I'll take you to the KFC, buy you a combo dinner, whatever you like"). Closer “Good To Be Alive" seals the deal with throbbing organ rolls and gospel inflection, living up to its title with outstretched arms, and bringing No Mas (Luther Records) to an appropriately lively end.
