Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Baby 81 CD

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Peter Lind Hayes, Robert Levon Been, Nick Jago.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's third album, HOWL, was a near-total reinvention of the Los Angeles-based trio's sound, introducing previously unknown folk and country influences. Although the experiment was artistically successful, the band completely abandoned it on their fourth album, BABY 81, in favor of a return to their original, far more aggressive sound as heard on their self-titled debut and second album (TAKE THEM ON, ON YOUR OWN). BABY 81 reiterates all of BRMC's original influences, primarily the Jesus and Mary Chain's mix of ear-piercing feedback and pop hooks and My Bloody Valentine's love of massed guitar drones for their own sake. These combine with co-leaders Peter Hayes and Robert Turner's familiar vocal style on songs as diverse as the poppy first single, "Weapon of Choice," and the Sonic Youth style nine-minute noise-rock epic, "American X." Other highlights include the strutting opening track, "Took Out a Loan," and the Stooges-like sleaze of "Berlin."
After completely (and successfully) rehauling their sound for 2005's Howl, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club shelved their low-key Americana leanings, reburied their roots music influences, and moved to a new version of their old, noisy sound. Baby 81 is a big rock record with walls of crunchy guitars, thundering drums, and lots of volume that sounds like a cross between Oasis and the Jesus and Mary Chain at their most conventional. ~ Tim Sendra
After completely (and successfully) rehauling their sound for 2005's Howl, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club shelved their low-key Americana leanings, reburied their roots music influences, and retreated to a new version of their old, noisy sound. Baby 81 is a big rock record with walls of crunchy guitars, thundering drums, and lots of volume that sounds like a cross between Oasis and the Jesus and Mary Chain at their most conventional. It's also an over-polished, over-thought, and under-inspired record that forsakes everything good that the group accomplished on Howl (subtlety, emotion weight, solid songcraft) in favor of stale melodies, vacant lyrics, and clichéd bad-boy rock & roll posturing. Songs like "666 Conducer," "Berlin" (which is saddled with the howlingly bad chorus "Suicide's easy/What happened to the revolution?"), the slick new wave bandwagon-hopper "American X," and the clunky "Lien on Your Dreams" are like paint-by-numbers rockers that even JAMC would set aside as too bland. The Mary Chain comparison is blindingly obvious, but maybe a bit unfair to the Reid brothers; even at their most generic, they always had the evil force of their personalities to help sell their pose, but BRMC has no personality to fall back on. This album slinks past in an embarrassing haze of forgettable songs and missed opportunities. Even the couple of tunes that start off promising, like the moody "All You Do Is Talk" or "Am I Only" (which teases by opening with a quiet acoustic guitar passage), are ruined by the hackneyed production and the overall tired, desperate feeling that pervades the album. After Howl, it seemed like the group was poised to make some very good, honest-sounding records. Instead they have succumbed to an ill-fated attempt to get back in the rock & roll game, and it's a painfully disappointing artistic failure. ~ Tim SendraSpin (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] recent attraction to Britpop yields expertly crafted songs like the angry, political 'Weapon of Choice' and the brooding crooner 'Window.'"
Alternative Press (p.156) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The bulk of BABY 81 draws from the dark underbelly of the Woodstock generation..."
Magnet (p.90) - "BABY 81 finds BRMC back in control of the street corner, cigarette squints and rock 'n' roll swagger intact."
No Depression (p.97) - "BABY 81 finds BRMC further refining their distinctive, invigorating blend of swirling, fuzzed-out guitar squall and stripped-down bluesy soul."