Two Nice Girls - Like A Version

An openly lesbian country group? From Texas? That had to be a tough field to work in. The traditional world of country music is not terribly open to such diversity, but Two Nice Girls must not have cared too much about that. Led by multi-instrumentalist Gretchen Philips with fellow multi-instrumentalists Kathy Korniloff and Laurie Freelove, the band formed in 1986 and released their debut, 2 Nice Girls, in 1989. Freelove left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Meg Hentges with Pam Barger added on drums. Their second album, Chloe Liked Olivia, was released in 1991 with the band breaking up shortly thereafter, but between those two releases this EP, Like A Version, was released.

Like A Version is, for the most part, a collection of diverse covers that you generally wouldn't expect from a country group, all performed with love and affection. Seriously, anyone should be surprised by a combined cover of Donna Summer's I Feel Love and Bad Company's Feel Like Makin' Love, but more than that is the fact that it's amazingly good. Same goes for their version of Speed Racer, slowing it down from the jaunt that it is to a lovely country swing. The only original track is I Spent My Last $10.00 (On Birth Control & Beer), an amusing tale of a young woman leaving her lesbian ways for a heterosexual relationship that doesn't sound terribly inviting. It's lyrics are rather odd but the mood conveyed through the song makes it clear it's not meant to be taken seriously.

I can't say that I'm familiar with the rest of Two Nice Girls' discography but I know I'll have to investigate soon. This is a great record and I can only assume the rest of their releases are as good. Give it a shot, you may be taken by how good their music is as I am.


Two Nice Girls - Like A Version

01 I Feel (Like Makin') Love (Donna Summer/Bad Company)
02 Bang Bang (Janis Martin)
03 Top Of The World (The Carpenters)
04 Speed Racer (theme song from Speed Racer)
05 Cotton Crown (Sonic Youth)
06 I Spent My Last $10.00 (On Birth Control & Beer)