I Used To Be Pretty

If the first 45 minutes don’t convince you this is the best garage rock album in years, then the closing 13-minute epic “Ghost Cave Lament,” one of two new tunes, will seal the deal.

Sometimes older and wiser just makes you harder and meaner. I Used to Be Pretty is the grungy, gangly, glorious result of hard-won maturity.

An atmospheric yet strutting cocktail of dark romance, louche sax lines and bluesy grit. [Apr 2019, p.89]

Though the versions of the songs on I Used to Be Pretty sound fantastic, it can be tricky messing around with the alchemy of previously recorded music. There was a certain charm to the ramshackle, handmade feel of these tunes as they appeared on the original albums. That said, these gussied-up, more professional arrangements show Chris D.’s songs in the best possible light.