Von Bondies Pawn Shoppe Heart CD

The Von Bondies blend raw garage, punk and true soul into one sonic whole with the release of their third album "Pawn Shoppe Heart". Produced by Jerry Harrison (best known for his work with Talking Heads and Modern Lovers), "Pawn Shoppe Heart" rattles through a number of highlights including the exhilarating rush of "Broken Man", the fiery first single "C'mon 'C'mon" and the soulful dual-vocal rock 'n' roll of "The Fever". Essentially The Von Bondies blend the best elements of music from the sixties onwards with an uncompromising and electrifying delivery of raw power.

The Von Bondies: Jason Stollsteimer (vocals, guitar); Carrie Smith (vocals, bass); Marcie Bolen (guitar, background vocals); Carrie Smith (vocals, Don Blum (drums, background vocals).
Recorded at Sausalito, Sound, The Plant, Studio D, Sausalito, California; Ghetto Recorders, Detroit, Michigan.
Personnel: Marcie Bolen, Jason Stollsteimer (vocals, guitar); Don Blum (vocals, drums).
Audio Mixers: Eric "ET" Thorngren; John Goodmanson.
Recording information: Ghetto Recorders Studio, Detroit, MI; Sausalito Sound, Sausalito, CA; Studio D Recording, Sausalito, CA; The Record Plant, Sausalito, CA.
Photographer: Melanie Nissen.
The altercation between the Von Bondies' Jason Stollsteimer and the White Stripes' Jack White earned the Von Bondies some literally spectacular publicity -- and simultaneously broke and perpetuated the link between the band and its former friend and mentor. However, the group's Sire debut, Pawn Shoppe Heart, not only lives up to the bigger and brighter spotlight thrown upon them as a result of that incident, it also reveals that the Von Bondies are finding their own voice. Working with producer Jerry Harrison, they sound better on record than they ever have. Previously, Stollsteimer's throaty baritone often sounded muddy and tended to overshadow the band's playing. On Pawn Shoppe Heart, the crisp but not too-slick sound gives Stollsteimer's voice, and the rest of the group's instruments, room to breathe and resonate; the result is an album that helps set the Von Bondies apart from their contemporaries and rocks just as hard as their early work. That the Detroit garage rock mainstays sound more fully formed on an album recorded in San Francisco with one of alt-rock's biggest producers is somewhat ironic, but the results speak for themselves. The excellent, exhilarating single "C'Mon C'Mon" alone justifies the Von Bondies' jump to a major label and the attendant major recording budget: its quick-shifting dynamics, call-and-response vocals, and poppy sheen make it not only the best and most distinctive song the Von Bondies have yet recorded, but one of the best singles of 2004. In fact, "C'Mon C'Mon" is so good that it nearly dwarves the rest of Pawn Shoppe Heart, but the album does have several other nearly-as-good moments. "Not That Social," an icy-hot piece of punk-pop sung by bassist Carrie Smith, capitalizes on the Von Bondies' boy-girl vocal interplay, a trick that also adds some playful complexity to the otherwise primal "The Fever." "No Regrets" borrows T. Rex's stomping glam and gets the album off to an appropriately attention-getting start; "Poison Ivy" is a rush of lust that rescues Pawn Shoppe Heart from a slight slump in its second half. The Von Bondies find Detroit a hard place to escape even in song, and tracks like the in-jokey "Been Swank" (which riffs on the name of the Soledad Brothers' drummer, Ben Swank) and "Broken Man," which describes Stollsteimer and crew as "a broken band from a broken land," tend to pull the group back into the scenesterism that most of the album works so hard to escape. And when the band returns to the swampy, bluesy side of its music, Pawn Shoppe Heart becomes a hit-or-miss affair; tracks like "Right of Way" and "Crawl Through the Darkness" are big on power but relatively small on memorable melodies. On the other hand, the slow-burning "Mairead" doesn't quite justify its five-minute lengRolling Stone (3/18/04, p.70) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[The album] is powered by righteous riffs [and] offers alls the kicks of a souped-up kit car roaring down the open road."
Spin (3/04, pp.92-3) - "[T]he Von Bondies' calling card is the urgency of Stollsteimer's voice as it sounds down the shop-worn chord progressions." - Grade: A
Q (2/04, pp.96-7) - 4 stars out of 5 - "The Von Bondies are a better, more loveable band for their frontman reining in his misanthropy."
Uncut (3/04, p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[H]ere they're glibly glamorous, energised by a Pixies-like concision..."
CMJ (3/08/04, p.5) - "PAWN SHOPPE vacillates between '60s blues stomps, surfy reverbed excursions, Kim-sung Pixies-like tracks and big, aggro-blues rockouts that smack most of early Danzig..."t
Mojo (Publisher) (2/04, p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]hey have an inherent gift for the split-second pause, the cool coda, the scene-stealing lyric."