This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Ian Svenonius is on a mission from God — and Satan. Not to mention The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, James Brown and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, too.
On his Washington, D.C. quartet’s sixth album Save Yourself, he preaches the gospel according to all of them. While the band cranks out choogling blues-punk beats and soulful, gospel-tinged melodies, Svenonius works the mic like a one-man sex machine, squealing, yelping and moaning more than the Purple One on Viagra. He’s so sexy he can make a line like, “I’ll be your trapezoid, baby,” sound like an obscene phone call — to say nothing of a lyric such as, “Baby, if you’ve got any feelings, hold me in your child-bearing hips.” Sure, he wants to save your soul — but after all, you can’t have salvation without a little sin.
