Laughing Hyenas - Hard Times - 2XLP

By the time the Hyenas went back into the studio, Kevin Strickland and Jim Kimball had left to form Mule and had left John and Larissa without a rhythm section. Many people thought this marked the end of the band. Not the case. Todd Swalla (founding member of Necros) stepped in on drums and Kevin Ries on bass. Todd is a much more subtle timekeeper than Jim and Ries had no problem locking in with him, but stayed in the background a little more than Strickland leaving Larissa to take up a little more of the slack. She rises to the occasion, her leads a bit more melodic than before, although still blanketed in a sheet of noise. Brannon’s anguished vocals will still peel the paint of the walls and over the new slightly toned down direction, somehow seem even more extreme. 
Crawl is notably the only of the Hyenas records recorded in Detroit at White Room Studios.

Bonus material All tracks from the Covers “bootleg” 7”, featuring: “Solid Gold Hell” (Scientists) “I Want You Right Now” (MC5) “Under My Thumb” (Stones) “Serves Me Right To Suffer” (JL Hooker) Liner notes by Bob Bert (Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks) and Allyson Baker (Dirty Ghosts, Teen Crud Combo) Unseen photos and flyer reprints Hard Times disc: This album saw one more line up change: Kevin Ries left and one time Necros Ron Sakowski stepped in, the Hyenas went down to Memphis to the legendary Easley Studios to record their final LP with the one and only Doug Easley. On Hard Times, we see the Hyenas influences are more Howlin’ Wolf/Muddy Waters than they are Nick Cave/Iggy Pop.   

The full-on sonic assault of the first three records has given way to a hard hitting groove that has a graceful Exile-era Stones vibe. Larissa’s simple and one-of-a-kind guitar playing has never been better. Brannon does more crooning than screaming on this one, giving us their most “musical” offering yet    

Hard Times 
A1 Just Can't Win
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas
A2 Hard Time Blues
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas
A3 You're So Cool
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas
A4 Stay
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas
B1 Slump
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas
B2 Home Of The Blues
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas
B3 Each Dawn I Die
Written-By – Douglas*, Cash*, McAlpin*
B4 Shine
Written-By – Laughing Hyenas 

Crawl 
C1 Crawl
C2 Living In Darkness
C3 Walk
C4 Girl
Covers 
D1 Solid Gold Hell
Written-By – Salmon*
D2 I Want You Right Now
Written-By – Frechter*, Page*
D3 Under My Thumb
Written-By – Jagger/Richards*
D4 Serves Me Right To Suffer
Written-By – John Lee Hooker