- Artist: Red Red Meat
- Album: Bunny Gets Paid (Deluxe Edition)
- Label: Sub Pop
- Release: 1995, 2009
- Links: Sub Pop, MySpace
In March, Sub Pop reissued Bunny Gets Paid, the third full length from Red Red Meat, the Chicago group that preceded Tim Rutili’s current band, Califone. Although it is what makes Bunny Gets Paid stand out, the album’s combination of disheveled guitars and blues tones probably wasn’t widely appreciated in 1995. I can imagine Red Red Meat being written off at the time as “leftover grunge,” but this album deserves so much more than that. Moments such as the broke-down opener “Carpet Of Horses” represent a band locating its voice in a time that was filled with dozens of alternative acts struggling to find their way in the wake of a genre’s death.
In the liner notes of this two disc reissue, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock states, “Bunny Gets Paid sold a lot of weed to me.” I’ll class that up by saying there is a murky quality to the album, but there is also great depth beneath its surface. Nuances such as the strings on “Buttered” and the piano on “Sad Cadillac” are intensely beautiful. Rutili’s lyrics are often hard to discern, but he leaves a large impression with his vocals. What fascinates me most about Bunny is that, somehow, it is filled with great hooks. The chorus of “Gauze” is unbelievable and if the timing had been better, “Chain Chain” could have been big.
Surprisingly, the title track is the one song that underwhelms, but the album is remarkably steady considering how messy it may seem. Bunny ends with a cover of “There’s Always Tomorrow,” a cut from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. The premise of this will seem odd until you hear Red Red Meat’s exceptional interpretation. The lone revelation on disc two is a worthy cover of Low’s “Words” that feels right at home. I am not too disappointed that the bonus disc doesn’t offer much because discovering this album for the first time was satisfaction enough for me. Bunny Gets Paid is a treasure that was kept in the dark for far too long.
