On the occasion of its 20th anniversary a few years ago,
I did a long piece on Triple Fast Action's sophomore album Cattlemen Don't, making the argument it is a largely undiscovered classic album that deserved far more attention than it got. And I don't just mean a "lost" Chicago classic, I mean it's one of the best albums (IMHO) from the late '90s, period.
Triple Fast Action got sucked up on the major-label signing frenzy that descended on Chicago in the mid-'90s, but after their debut
Broadcaster failed to dominate the charts, despite featuring the classic song "Revved Up" featuring uncredited vocal help from their friends in Veruca Salt, the group left the majors and signed with indie Deep Elm to release
Cattlemen Don't.
Triple Fast Action promotional shot for Capitol Records, circa 1995.
While
Broadcaster revealed itself as a grower upon repeated listens,
Cattlemen Don't expanded the band's palette without compromising their core sound of crunchy and precise pop hooks in a sea of guitars coursing over always inventive yet entirely grounded rhythms. And there wasn't a clunker of a song in the whole bunch. Despite having a solid trackless that could have driven additional singles, it only scored a minor hit with the single "Heroes," and the band broke up soon after its release for a variety of reasons with
a legendary send-off at The Metro in 1998.
Now, 23 years later,
the band is releasing an expanded version of Cattlemen Don't, including a vinyl release and a slew of bonus tracks recorded during that time. And they're doing it with the help of local label
Forge Again Records, with liner notes from Local H's Scott Lucas—so you don't get much more Chicago than this, huh?
The first 300 orders will also get a free Flexi-disc of an additional unreleased track, so smash that buy button below ASAP to get in on that! I'm pretty sure after one listen to the album below you'll want to have it in your permanent collection.
