Search - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club :: Take Them On, On Your Own

Made me break out my archive

David Seelen | Lee's Summit, Missouri United States | 10/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nothing new I know...and I say so what. This is the best Rock 'n' Roll album to come out this year. Now let me preempt and say that BRMC are not new to the scene. Robert "Been" Turner (bass, guitar and vocals) is the son of Michael Been from the fine 80's band The Call. Ironically enough the sound you will find here is a polished and refurbished 80's sound. When I purchased the first release I salivated and delved into my crates pulling out old vinyl from Love and Rockets, Jesus and Mary Chain, Gene Loves Jezebel (pre House of Dolls), Teenage Fanclub, Bauhaus, Tones On Tail, Joy Division etc etc ...The influences were obvious. However Robert, Peter and Nick have a much stronger, crisper and tighter sound. On the new release "Take Them On..." the production is hot. Much like Iggy Pop's album "Raw Power" it is recorded in the red... and as for the lyrics? Well let's say they are far more mature than what was pouring out of William Reid or Daniel Ash during their heyday. After at least 3 complete listens if you do not love this album get in gear to see them live. After that if you are not a fan then strap on sh*t kickers and head out to a square-dance partner because R'n'R bleeds when you are in the room."

BRMC rocks

alexander laurence | Los Angeles, CA | 04/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"German expressionists often thought that there were no political solutions, only spiritual ones. That is how BRMC present their music often. They just want you to hear the music and keep it to yourself. Their garage punk is for people who have heard of Spiritualized and Primal Scream. It doesn't have the joy and bravado of other rock and roll bands. "Stop" and "Six Barrel Shotgun" sound like tracks from their first album. If it is not broke why fix it? Why is anyone thinking that BRMC is going to do a prog rock album? Other songs like "Generation" and "US Government" deal with the disconnected feel of the times. They are questioning the current slide of young people into cliché, cynicism, and being jaded. They have hope in their music, even though their politics are more personal. This band has the coolest name, but who knows if anyone will discover how good they truly are?"

Rockers are a dying breed

alexander laurence | 12/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With the radio plagued with faux-emotional scrapple ranging from the baritone whines of sludge-rockers Nickleback to the pre-menstrual-punk of Simple Plan, and the only remnants of New York's once so promising rock revival incarnated either in underexposed dance-punk acts (Le Tigre, The Rapture) or ulcer-inducing novelty rockers (Whirlwind Heat, The Coral), there seems little hope for solid, radio-friendly rock. There's more than a little irony in the fact that the first act to truly resurface from the ashes of the mini-movement still in triage at St. Joseph's Hospital hails from San Francisco, a city known to raise as many eyebrows over its dubious musical scene as are raised over its inhabitants' sexual orientation.
When the self-titled debut from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club hit shelves in early 2001 it arrived on the coattails of the aforementioned chic post-punk revival spearheaded by the stripped-down stylings of the Strokes, Hives, White Stripes, etc. So, naturally, with a tepidly subversive band name and their respective mop-tops gracing the stylishly black-and-white album cover, it was only logical to lump them in with the trendy, lukewarm power-poppers taking CBGB by storm at the time. This pre-association was not only flagrantly false, but served to deprive many potential fans of one of the most original and mesmerizing rock albums this millennium.
Amidst the surplus of unique successes offered up by BRMC was its capacity to blur the lines between preexisting musical genres seldom interconnected, most notably the long-defunct shoegazer movement of the early nineties, a U.K.-rooted style characterized by waves of indiscernible sound in which all elements fade into the swirling mix pioneered by My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, and contemporaries, and the more direct down-tempo rock of past acts such as the Jesus and Mary Chain, and all the while bypassing bipolarity.
Many critics fancied this blend an inconsistency and chided the album as unfocused. Consequently, the trio decided to lean more heavily toward their straightforward rock dimension, accounting for Take them On's increase in accessibility and slight drop in originality from their first effort.
That said, this change is not so much a devolution as it is a stylistic shift. The approach adopted here yields what is easily one of the best rock albums so far this year, but one that nevertheless sacrifices heavily in diversity and innovation. BRMC's standout tracks were almost unanimously the more passive of the crop: the blissfully soporific drones of "Awake," the chorus-laden guitar work and nearly whispered vocals of "Rifles," the biting dissonance and throbbing bassline of "Red Eyes and Tears," all decidedly mellow. The most driving track "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'N Roll [Punk Song]" proved a seemingly deliberate outlier, as indicated by the particularly descriptive song title, and one that seemed like to stay such come later releases. This expectation was subverted from Track One of Take them On, for which it seems nearly a blueprint, and the remaining tracks tend to stay true to form in this regard.
Even so, innovation is hardly forgone. Lyrically, the trio tread the grounds of banality ("I kill you all with a six barrel shotgun/ I kill you all but I need you so"), try their hands at some abstract political commentary with "US Government," and fill in the blanks with the vague lyrical catch-alls ("We're all in love with something that we can't see") that kept BRMC strictly musically-oriented. The sedated biker-rock of "Ha Ha High" stands out as new territory, as does the trebly, sinusoidal guitar pulses of "In Like the Rose." "Shade of Blue" echoes BRMC's lullaby feel, rendering it easily one of the most successful tracks, but maintains cohesion in the context of the album.
All in all, with its generally one-size-fits-all approach, Take them On would almost make a more successful debut than it does a sophomore album, but is still like to prove the best pop-rock album for some time. For those bogged down in the muck of Good Charlotte, Evanescence and cohorts, you will find solace, shelter and redemption in Take them On."