The RHH cover looks like a klass-sick kitschy B-movie scene, complete with shreiking BETTY PAGE-like babe in distress, which is no doubt the point of SPACE HEATER...tongue in cheek fun funneled through hopped up bop. COUCH SURFIN' starts with a classic retro BATMAN riff, the instrumentals are succulent slices of surfabilly, and song titles like BABY I'M DRUNK, STARLIGHT LOUNGE, and TEXAS ROCKABILLY REBEL give a clear indication of the retro roots rock vortex where REVEREND HORTON HEAT hangs its twangin'/bangin' hat. These three cool cats pummel shards of THE RAMONES, SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS, BRIAN SETZER, ELVIS PRESLEY, THE CRAMPS and DICK DALE into their very own charismatic slab o' mince-meat musicology.

I can't sum it up any better than this soundbite:
"Turn up the bass...turn up the treble...TEXAS ROCK-A-BILLY REBEL..."

RATING: FOUR GEAR SHIFT KNOBS

This album misses it totally for me.
I love the first three albums, great melodys, great guitar playing. This is more like some kind of bar chord punk. I don't mind a band changing up but this is a step down. The Rev. is known for great guitar playing, this album doesn't feature that at all.

This cd has an awesome groove to it. The guitar and bass is still solid. This release is more sarcastic and still, but it rocks hard too. "Lie Detector" is one of my favs from the Rev'. Buy this cd if you like Horton Heat but dont own it. Just buy it on a whim b/c this cd is killer.

I really like the sound of this record. It breaks a bit of a mold for the Rev. and his band. "Lie Detector" should be cranked up as loud as possible.

While not quite on par with some of the other donations by the Reverend, Space Heater has proven itself to me as a worthy purchase. Being a RHH fan I do harbor a little favoritism though.

Some have complained that the sound keeps changing, but I can still hear a lot of the Reverend's roots in this stuff. Besides, I tend to like it when a band can bend their sound around without betraying the core sound. I expect a harder edge from these guys and I feel that most of the tracks without it should be considered the departure from the norm. They are psychobilly after all. Even many of their slower, mellow tracks are done quite well, so I can't complain much at all.

Some of my best picks of Space Heater would have to be the humorous Couch Surfin', the instrumentals of Pride of San Jacinto and The Prophet Stomp, and the harder edge tracks such as Lie Detector, Jimbo Song, Goin' Manic and Cinco De Mayo. I won't waste any more of your time with details. Just suffice to say the whole disc is 'listenable' (especially for RHH fans) and that is hard to come by in many CDs today.

If you are a fan of Reverend this selection should not disappoint. While it may not be their best work, I have heard worse from bands with more commercial success. If this be your first sermon from The Reverend, you should have a taste for music with a little hard edge and some Tex-Mex-Rock&Roll dashed in to taste.