“[Persian Gulf], led by the guitarist-singer Hal Shows, has applied the lessons of punk-rock —directness and economy— to riffs inherited from soul, rockabilly and the blues . . . Mr. Shows sings in a raspy monotone recalling the Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten. But his message isn’t punkish cynicism or anger; some songs are about falling in love —uneasily— and some are surreal narratives or sidelong political statements . . . Although the music sounds workmanlike and rough-hewn, there’s not a note out of place; the band tossed off a song in an odd meter, 7/4, as easily as a funk tune. Without making a fuss, Persian Gulf shows how much life is left in the rock and roll basics.”

—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 1984

“Hal Shows writes and sings songs in a confiding croon. With close cropped hair, a tight smile, and round, rimless glasses, Shows looks like the kind of yuppie who takes pride in having outgrown rock and roll; instead he has grown into it, bending it to his will . . . the effect is exhilarating. This performance began with an acoustic version of his band, a quartet including guitars, a cello, and modulated vocal harmonies. Shows filled this set with love songs that used invigoratingly forthright, explicit languauge. The songs were beautifully arranged . . . High points included the most hard-rocking version of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” I’ve ever heard.”

—Ken Tucker, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1984

“Conscious rather than correct, without a hint of hard-cores parracidal/mysogynistic hysteria, this eight-song EP [Changing the Weather] is constricted and expansive, sour and ebullient all at once. Hal Shows understands his own anarchic/apocalyptic impulses, and his Lennonesque rhythm guitar provides the extra momentum he needs to stay on top of things.”

—Robert Christgau, Village Voice, 1984

Persian Gulf is impossible to pigeonhole. Their music goes beyond its influences; they have their own unique sensibility. Unlike U2, Persian Gulf also manages to blend the surreal and the political, without sounding artsy. “Eclipse of the Moon” is an apocalyptic vision of social disintegration that strays from reality into fantasy with no resulting loss in intensity: “all the women are banding together/they’re running free in the woods tonight/in my sleep I can hear them chanting.”

—The Harvard Crimson, 1984

“This seven song EP [Changing the Weather] is startling in its pared down musical simplicity and cynical vision that always looks askance. Composer/vocalist/guitarist Hal Shows wants more from modern relationships (like conversation) and distrusts state socialism as much as he loathes corporate capitalism. In fact, in both song and deed, Persian Gulf recaptures rocks essentially anarchistic core: a refusal to subordinate integrity to the debilitating superstate . . .”

—Michael Kimmel, The Livingston Medium, 1984

“ . . . songs with catchy melodies and tart lyrics are played with slashing intensity. The final effect is one of the best rock-and-roll paradoxes: tight music that sounds tossed off.”

—Ken Tucker, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1985

“Music from a trouble zone: The United States of America.”

—Robert Christgau, Village Voice. 1985

“Persian Gulf is a three man rock band that makes some of the most intelligent and quirkily original music in Philadelphia, with songs full of mature, complex emotions, couched in inviting melodies and powered by rough, aggressive guitar playing.”

—Ken Tucker, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1985

“Music from the heart, gut and head. Persian Gulf isn’t pretentious, isn’t trendy, isn’t even particularly timely, (though you can’t get much more up-to-the-minute than their ‘Free South Africa’)— just a basic, attuned trio standing alone on their own six feet. The Movie, their first full-length LP, showcases honed to the bone pop . . . [and] restrained acoustic ballads. Either style (and the host of others they flirt with on this cut-packed album) is delivered with sincerity and know-how.”

—CMJ Editorial Staff Jackpot,1986

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“Pure, straightforward, unadulterated rock and roll. No posing, no cute little gimmicks or fashion statements. Persian Gulf represents the best that rock has to offer. Hal Shows is an artist with a vision; it isn’t a pretty one. Frustration, betrayal, the search for love, and the failure of Christianity are themes running through his work. Influenced by Dylan and Byrne, as well as by traditional folk music, Shows shows as much breadth as he does depth. Persian Gulf: The Movie . . . deserves a place in the collections of those who know what rock and roll is all about.”

—Steve Hecox, Option Magazine, 1986

“ Persian Gulf’s first full length LP has it all. Following up the critically acclaimed 1984 Changing the Weather, The Movie incorporates all that the earlier work suggested and doubles it. Hal Shows must be a man who takes his time crafting his work . . . everything here is perfectly in place without being precious, not an extraneous lick or word in sight, not an inappropriate harmony or misplaced modulation. With little fanfare, Persian Gulf has arrived to announce that there’s life left in this American rock ‘n’ roll thing . . .”

—Jeff Tamarkin, CMJ New Music Report, 1986

“Hal Shows’ songs are as rawboned as the best Creedence Clearwater Revival; they link personal frustration and political rage without wasting a word or a note.”

—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 1986

“On Birthday Suit, his solo debut, Shows uses B-52’s bass lines, Buddy Holly’s reverb drenched guitars, Leon Redbone’s blues form and vocal chorales that combine R.E.M. freneticism with the sweetness of the Beatles to enhance his straightforward songwriting. “Supernatural” is a terse blues essay, “Evelyn Anderson” a Nick Drake-like folk fantasy, and “Morales Died” a charged, indirectly political rocker.”

—Tom Moon, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1989

“This solo debut [Birthday Suit] displays Shows’ expansive knowledge of rock and roll history . . . filtered through his intelligent songwriting. He manages to evoke the past without sounding retro, a neat trick. He is also literate and witty in his songs without being pompous or condescending . . . The record’s underpinning is a steady flow of percussion instruments adding a non-rock texture to the mostly roots rock and roll songs . . . The album is diverse in sound but unified in theme and feeling.”

—Steve Macqueen, Tallahassee Democrat, 1990

“[Lifeboat] affirms once again Shows’ artistic strengths— a gift for melody, thoughful lyrics, clever arrangements, and a bare-bones rock and roll approach that manages to incorporate a variety of sounds and styles . . . and, for a work spread over so much time and so many places, Lifeboat works as a coherent whole.”

—Steve Macqueen, Tallahassee Democrat, 1995

“Lifeboat reveals a songwriter who knows how to manipulate his audience by balancing seamy imagery with catchy, often playful melodies . . . the bleak philosophical outlook that informs Lifeboat is belied by Shows’ deadpan delivery and a grab bag of musical styles that make the CD easy to digest . . . Appropriately, his most disturbing tale here is also, in a way, his funniest . . . Throughout Lifeboat, Shows’ rage is never so far below the surface that it goes unnoticed.”

—Jim Murphy, Miami New Times, 1996

“Hal Shows is a natural born poet and a rock and roll mastermind all in one extremely talented package. As leader of former Tallahassee band Persian Gulf, shows specialized in wonderfully melodic, devilishly clever punk-pop that packed local dance floors in the early eighties . . . This delicious sampler of Shows’ oeuvre [Whitman’s Sampler, 1999] surveys the post-gulf years, but the band’s raw power hums under the surface of these tunes.”

—Kati Schardl, Tallahassee Democrat, 2000

“Falling somewhere in the middle of a musical Bermuda triangle (Dick Dale, the Talking Heads and Ennio Morricone being the three points) this track [Hal Shows’ “Black, Black, No Trade Back,” from the 1999 release Whitman’s Sampler] manages to find its own voice. Twitchy organ vamps and a serious reverb on guitar mark a tune on which the emphasis is the structure rather than quick-picking. Great bridge and a strange David Byrne-sounding ‘meep...meepmeep’ make the four minutes fly by.”

—Andrew Dansby, Rolling Stone, 2000 (Editors’ MP3 of the Day)

From the easy-rollin’ music that begins NATIVE DANCER (Witching Stick), you might mistake HAL SHOWS for a laid-back sort. But Shows, previously the leader of a fine, loud, ‘80s agitprop rock band called Persian Gulf, soon starts slipping some vinegar into this album’s sweet country rock. On ‘’Easy Street,’’ he hears talk about ‘’a war so far away’’ and a national bravado that promises ‘’foreign tongues will taste defeat.’’ As Native Dancer proceeds, the loping ditties, with their skillful blend of bluegrass, honky-tonk, and pop-rock, sneak in messages of dissent and doubt: ‘’Don’t take it on trust,’’ he advises on ‘’Don’t Blame It On Us!,’’ and he’s downright protest-y on ‘’That Check’s in the Mail’’ and the saxophone-bleating ‘’Hung Jury.’’ His pleasantly hoarse voice and tunefulness may remind boomers of the Lovin’ Spoonful and younger listeners of...well, no one on the contemporary scene.

—Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly, 2003