![](http://web.archive.org./web/20210129203345im_/http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_z9OnSxr2OHU/SLaDpMq3WQI/AAAAAAAAALU/s-Z-xPh_X3A/s320/cover.jpg)
1985 was a busy year for Living In Texas: in addition to the
Glad Bad Sad & Mad EP and the
Italia Live Eighty-Five LP, they also released this studio album, all on their own Chainsaw label. On this release the band is still a four-piece: Stephan James (vocals), Mathew Fraser (drums, backing vocals), Daniel Glee (guitars), Nicholas D. Denton (bass). They brought in Martin Young of Colourbox as producer, and he also plays all the keyboards on the album (which are very subtle, you'll have to really listen for them to hear them at all). "The Fastest Man Alive" and its instrumental version continue in the amped-up rockabilly mode of
Glad Bad (but even faster, as you may have guessed), while the major-chord "Like Thunder" sounds like a precursor of modern pop-punk. "Bomb Generation", heard on the live album, gets its studio release here; "The Fairest Of Them All" sounds almost like Gene Loves Jezebel; and the remaining songs are all in the band's gothic mode. The full track list is:
- The Fastest Instrumental Alive (vocal-less version of the title track)
- Beautiful
- Alone She Cries
- Like Thunder
- The Fastest Man Alive (I'm calling this the title track even though it has "Man" where the album title has "Men")
- Bring On The Rain
- The Fairest Of Them All
- Bomb Generation
Cover art is once again supplied by guitarist Daniel Glee. I consider
The Fastest Men Alive to be the last great Living In Texas record; get it
here or
here.