Live at the Wild Western Room

This live disc, recorded who knows when but released in 1994, is something of a split LP. The first side offers seven tracks by Thee Headcoats at their most raucous and raw, sounding like the music is coming through a subway PA horn. On the second side, Childish surrenders the microphone to the female vocal group Thee Headcoatees (usually three members strong, but this time numbering four) for seven more songs. Their voices blend together in a loose, energetic collective wail, but exuberance triumphs over anger even on songs like “Don’t Try and Tell Me.” The band plays with less distortion and fervor when backing Thee Headcoatees; the music simmers instead of boiling over. It all climaxes with “M.E.L.V.I.N.,” a rewrite of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” from a female POV.