The Afghan Whigs, Black Love

Released on March 12, 1996 Black Love by The Afghan Whigs is probably my favorite album of all time. 

Yes, that’s a bold claim. There are other albums I adore, that have meant a lot to me, Appetite for Destruction and Nevermind come to mind, but Black Love spoke to me in way that other albums, really any other art, never did or has since. 

Black Love took everything that The Afghan Whigs did well, grungy club guitar rock, lush soundscapes, R&B influences, and most importantly deep, dark introspection, and perfected it. Greg Dulli’s best work always seems cinematic in nature, his albums play out like noir films projected through smoke and dust straight onto your heart, and his songs make up the individual scenes to those “movies”. Nowhere does this analogy play out more than with Black Love. Dulli’s contract with Elektra was more than just a recording contract, there were options for movies, books, producing and more, most of which never materialized. Black Love plays like a soundtrack for a movie that was never made. 

Original sealed 1996 Sub Pop Release and 20th Anniversary Edition

The stage is set with Crime Scene Part One. 

Tonight, tonight

I say goodbye

To everyone who loves me

With this line, Greg Dulli begins his dark tale. A crime has been committed. In the movie, a murder perhaps, on vinyl, a broken heart- a murder in its own right. 

I hear the whispers, baby

If what they say is true

They say I killed the brother

To fall in love with you

The dark theme continues on My Enemy, Double Day and Blame, Etc. Dulli speaks of love, alcohol, despair, crucification, revenge, and blame. These songs, like the bulk of the movie pack in so much vivid detail. Dulli’s vocals are cloaked in rage, sadness, and cigarette smoke. The band, including Rick McCollum, John Curley, and drummer Paul Buchignani are at the peak of their powers here backing up Greg’s words. While these songs fit in on any alternative radio rotation from the 90’s, they are elevated by talent, skill, experience and musicianship. Something special is happening here as this twisted tale unfolds. 

Whenever the light shines

And the stillness is shaken

And the drug of your smile has gone

And left me alone

I need it bad, I need it now

Won't you come and give me some?

I need it sweet, baby please

Won't you answer the phone?

Step into the light, baby

Black Love hits its emotional crescendo with the intentional ballad Step Into The Light. My favorite Afghan Whigs song plays like a heartfelt ballad screaming out for lost love in desperation. This is a song to both make love to and to break up to. Greg steps back from yelling into the abyss hear and gives us a raw, authentic performance that gives me chills nearly every time I hear it. Its a sparse song whose lyrics and feelings hang the in air like cigarette smoke and the scent of whiskey and sex. 

If Step Into The Light is the emotional climax of the album, Going to Town and Honkey’s Ladder are the action climax. The band is searing of both of these tracks, particularly Honkey’s Ladder which sounds like a machine gun echoing in your head. Dulli goes ALL OUT here, screaming into the abyss thematically and literally about burning the whole place down. This is where things go to the edge and nearly fall apart. On screen, these songs would play out as tense action leaving you on the edge of your seat, on the turntable its the same, you want to turn it up and scream along with Greg. 

We slow things down a bit with Night By Candlelight, a brooding, plodding ballad repeats the same words over and over, a hymn to despair that asks the questions 

Am I vain? have I shame? 

Are my thoughts of a man 

Who can call himself sane? 

Do I blame, all my pain 

On the wickedness 

I have arranged? 

Dulli is questioning everything in this song, the existential crisis of the album laid bare. All of this is simply building to the climax, the crescendo, the resolution of this movie. Dulli attempts to cast out the demons he is feeling in Bulletproof and Summer’s Kiss, while the band provides a heart pounding musical landscape for him to tell his tale. Bulletproof is the chase scene…

The waiting's over

So get on down

This time we go a little lower

The sun has broke

I stretch it out

And throw some gas into the fire

The song is thrilling, sensual and raucous. A dream, a nightmare, on display as the narrator our hero deals with his demons. 

Summer’s Kiss demands to be heard live. The band displaying their prowess in this short but exhilarating 4 minutes. A reflection of love, loss, despair and redemption Greg begs Demons be gone! And finds himself ultimately alone at the end. Live this song whips the crowd into a frenzy with its brief build up intro, which once the intro ends and the guitars, bass and drums hit, it doesn’t let up emotionally or musically. Your exhausted, physically and emotionally. The song feels like an end of sorts, Summer’s Kiss is over after all. Shout out to my birth year 1973 too. ;) 

This album, this story, this dark tale, a screenplay written out in lyrics screamed and guitars blazed upon a bedrock of an unbelievable rhythm tapped out on drums and bass can only end one way. Epically. 

Faded, is an epic. In Bothe sheers cope, size and responsibility. On its shoulders it carries the weight of finishing the story laid out before it. And it does so in epic fashion. A simple piano intro build to a crescendo a familiar melody interlaced with the melodic guitars, crashing drums and sweeping instrumentation. Often, this song will include a connection to Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me. This song plays the same in tiny clubs as it would in giant arenas, its a big song upon which Greg resolves his dark story of love, hope, desperation, and regret. The song build upon Greg’s please and Rick’s guitar screams finally finding a spot for the story to end with a crash and a twinkle of piano playing out like the end credits scene of a hefty drama. 

You can believe in me, baby 

Can I believe in you? 

That secret's gonna kill you 

In the end 

It's gonna kill 

You

I love this album. It came to me at a dark time in my life, but a time where things were starting to turn around. Just a few years later I’d find love, my own resolution to my tale. While the emotions on display here no linger resonate with me as they did when I was in may 20’s the power on display still finds its way into that scar on my heart which will all carry. If you don’t know the Whigs, this may not be the best place to drop in. It’s dark, brooding, intense, scary. But if you’re looking for a good “movie” to watch on a Friday night, if you’re mending a broken heart, or reflecting on a broken soul, pour yourself a sifter of bourbon, light a cigarette and disappear into one of the greatest albums ever made.