Hoodoo Gurus return with a raucous scramble of garage guitars and kinky lyrics

Australian stoneage romeos Hoodoo Gurus are still rocking for Mars on comeback album Chariot Of The Gods

By
( )
published
Hoodoo Gurus: Chariot Of The Gods cover art
(Image: © Big Time Phonograph Recording Co. Pty. Ltd.)

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Twelve years after Purity Of Essence, Dave Faulkner and Brad Shepherd’s Hoodoo Gurus make up for lost time with this mad scramble of garage guitars, kinky lyrical high jinks and their peculiar brand of Australian insouciance.

The sonics begin in a bar, à la the Velvets at Max’s Kansas City, and climax in a homage to Lou Reed’s Berlin era on the witty Got To You Get Out Of My Life. 

The Gurus are as raucous as ever on the consensual S&M punch bag World Of Pain – a very nasty song – but there’s more thoughtful sexual confusion on Hang With The Girls and the misery mocking Was I Supposed To Care? No one does the old open letter to the jilted better than Faulkner. 

The vinyl version includes a cover of Bob Dylan’s Obviously Five Believers and a straight romp through The Beatles’ I Wanna Be Your Man. Well worth putting a dollar in the jukebox.

Max Bell
Max Bell

Max Bell worked for the NME during the golden 70s era before running up and down London’s Fleet Street for The Times and all the other hot-metal dailies. A long stint at the Standard and mags like The Face and GQ kept him honest. Later, Record Collector and Classic Rock called.