The Afghan Whigs - Congregation

 AMG Review
The grunge era's most overlooked masterpiece, Congregation was the Afghan Whigs' breakthrough album, an incendiary and insidious set which bridges the gap between the noisy aggression of the band's early releases and the soulful swagger of their later work. Slipping with ominous ease into the sinister, self-obsessed Lothario guise which would serve him so well from here on out, Greg Dulli announces his arrival as a truly magnetic presence -- by turns predator ("Tonight") and prey ("I'm Her Slave"), he's the guy your parents always warned you about, delivering each syllable of his remarkable lyrics with equal measures of innuendo and venom. Equally startling is the Whigs' musical growth -- while still unmistakably a member of the Sub Pop stable, there's a greater maturity and depth to their sinewy sound, with a newfound grasp of mood and nuance on tracks like the opening "Her Against Me" and "Let Me Lie to You" -- the wah-wah guitar which dominates "Turn On the Water," meanwhile, offers the first taste of the funk ambitions to follow. It was hardly a surprise when the Whigs jumped to Elektra soon after -- Congregation was clearly their ticket to the big leagues. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide February 24, 2007

 Only one great song on this album
or in their entire career for that matter. I have tried to like this band, but Greg Dulli just won't shut up. Every song is his snide lyrical diatribing, on and on and on. The guitarist keeps things mildly interesting, but on this album in particular, the drummer also won't shut up and play a straight beat for once. It's like three guys in their own worlds, and they mash it together and call what they've done songs. EXCEPT for the one decent song they did, the only rock song I can think of that is hard, psychedelic, passionate, powerful, and set to a waltz beat of all things. "LEt me lie to you" is the best song they ever made, BECAUSE everyone in the band is given room to breathe by the song's framework and tempo. Instead of piling in on top of each other till the end of the song like they usually seem to do, everyone agrees to hold back until the rushing choruses, and it's less muddled and better orchestrated for it. IT's a shame they didn't do any other songs like this, at least none that I have heard. I tried to like them, I really did. I wanted to find the band that made that one song, and discover a whole treasure chest of dark, passionate, noisy music like that. Too bad, no wonder they drifted apart. November 10, 2006

 best of All
This was the Best Whigs Album imho before they went more "Mainstream" and "Commercial" with Gentleman.
One can listen to this album over and over again w/o boredom, unlike Gentleman's 2-or three pop hits and droning monotony.
Although different genre it would be like comparing the passion of Metallica's "Kill em' All" to the more mainstream="And Justice for All". February 11, 2006

 Band?
I think Afghan Whigs is the worst band of all times after Cheap Trick.Someone said to me that this album was the best by them,did he drink some bottles of tequila before? August 6, 2005

 Whigs are white man's soul.
One thing you can say about the Whigs is that for a bunch of white guys, they sure seem to have alot of soul. Most of the songs on here are funky, and groove oriented. But not the sort of funky as in dance and party, but more of the sort of funk about getting down, and making love.

It's alot of love and regret in these songs though, and Duhli really lays it on thick. Listen to him squeal in "I'm her slave" and "Untie the Boat". The writing isn't as sharp as on Gentlemen, and the sound and production aren't as great as on Black Love, but this is still an essential whigs disc. January 6, 2005

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