Bump and Swing

AMG Review of Bump and Swing

Skip Jansen
All Music Guide

One of the few groups in the post-punk scene whose sound really benefits from a live recording, the explosive and improvisation nature of the Dog Faced Hermans is captured here on a collection of tracks from live dates in Germany, Holland, and the U.S. Recorded during the same time frame that produced their extraordinary studio album Those Deep Buds, the group reaches ecstatic peaks of instrumental prowess on the hard-hitting tracks "Hear the Dogs" and "Human Spark." The band launches into on social/political diatribe on "Keep Your Laws Off My Body" and "Peach Warriors," and turns to Anglo folk modalities on "Love Is the heart of Everything" and "The Bride Has Feet of Clay," in more than one way echoing their counterparts the Ex. The live recordings lack the punch of the extraordinary studio album Those Deep Buds, but makes up for it in inspired free-form improvisation.