The album on which Cincinnati's finest came into their own, melding their unique blend of white grunge angst and dark, horny soul. Singer/songwriter Greg Dulli had always shown a fascination for Sixties Stax music. The Whigs' previous EP, Uptown Avondale, featured covers of old soul songs like "Come See About Me" rendered in Dulli's typically torn-up guitar style. On Gentlemen, he writhes in the dilemma between his lust and his low self-esteem for being such a slave to his basest urges: "Ladies and gentlemen . . .I have a dick for a brain", he sings on "Be Sweet", while on the title track he declares, "This time I go to hell/For what I did to you". It's an unusual twist on rock's usual self-pity and macho posturing, conveyed in a subtly wrought, white-hot guitar-driven style with a steamy, Southern-fried undertow. An album which burns brilliantly with lust, shame and defiance.

(David Stubbs)