Texas Hotel
1987
Hot Animal Machine
About This Album
Former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins kicked off his solo career with a two-fisted solo album that left nothing to chance. Where his former band's mid-'80s output never stopped twitting fans' expectations, Rollins opted for a hard-hitting linear focus that's direct and unsparing -- especially when the target is himself. (The compact disc reissue includes the Drive By Shooting EP, which upholds Rollins' penchant for dark urban humor -- hence, its credit to Henrietta Collins & the Wifebeating Childhaters!) "Black & White"'s antiracist indictments get the album off to a searing start, though it doesn't take long for Rollins' thoughts to turn inward on "Followed Around," "Lost and Found," and "There's a Man Outside." Fans of Tetsuo II: Body Hammer will appreciate the title song's sentiments -- which acknowledge the need to close down feelings to weather times of urban stress ("you have to be part animal, part machine/if you take a good look around, you can see what I mean"). But the coda brims with the defiance that characterizes much of Rollins' solo work ("I won't take/I won't break").