iSound

“Even though three former members swell the ranks, the Alluring Strange prove this isn’t the Hellcats, take two, by covering Big Star’s “Big Black Car” (the song, incidentally, that got Mazzy Star where they are today). If not stranger, they’ve certainly made Alex Chilton’s chestnut more alluring. The former Hellcats, that hard-boozin’ gaggle of Memphis rockabilly women—including the heart and soul of that town’s underground, Misty and Kristi White—link up with vocalist Leah West, who tries on just about every chapeau in the shoppe.

Townes Van Zandt’s “Ain’t Leavin’ Your Love” gets the Tav Falco treatment; “Walk Away” by guitarist Lorette Velvette, who once played with Falco, slathers white trash frosting all over that Staxx/Volt devilsfood; and “Alluring Strange” by the band’s other guitarist, Randy Renke, sounds like it ought to be spurting out of a 900 phone sex encounter. And, just to show there’s still a little Hellcat in these people, Misty White’s Pulp Fictionis...