Better Off Dead - Girl with a Job - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

VD King - guitar/vocals Don Kenny - guitar Tim Cassidy - harmonica Mike Kenny - drums Arthur Zo - upright bass Girl With A Job, Better Off Dead's second and most recent album is 17 glistening globs of greasy goodness, guaranteed to get your good foot going. Neither blues purists nor swing/rockabilly revivalists, Better Off Dead make clear from the first spin that this is not your father's bluesmobile. From the stompin', swampin' swagger of the title track, to the hoppin' hoedown hoodoo of 'Voodoo Doll,' to the sweat-soaked swingin' of 'Diggin' My Own Grave,' Better Off Dead are more tempting than a keg party at the Betty Ford Center. A Little History Besides holding claim to having a luxury condominium complex built upon a toxic waste dump, Jersey City, NJ is also the car theft capital of the world, has some of the nation's highest property taxes, has virtually no school system, and has been called everything from an 'armpit' to the 'anti-zeitgeist.' The members of Better Off Dead just call it home. The origins of the band go back to when VD King first ran into guitarist Don Kenny rolling a guitar amp down a Jersey City street. 'I figured he was stealing it, in a band, or both,' explains VD. The two subsequently struck up a long-lasting musical friendship that has led to Better Off Dead. Joining VD and Don are Professor Tim Cassidy on harmonica and the chain smokin' rhythm section of Mike Kenny on drums and Arthur Zo on bass. All five had previously put in time in a variety of other groups, playing everything from pop and punk to rockabilly and swing. 'We started in 1995, but for a while we didn't consider ourselves a band, more like a social gathering,' offers guitarist Kenny. Lifting their name from a Bill Withers 45 that VD found in the trash (no, they aren't named after the John Cusack movie), the newly christened Better Off Dead headed for the clubs. The band got