Bad Afro Records:
The first US reviews of Save Rock'n'Roll" have been very flattering:
The Flaming Sideburns - Save Rock'n'Roll
"With a record entitled The Flaming Sideburns Save Rock'n'Roll, you
better be able to make good on your claim, or suffer the wrath of many a
rock critics. But with equal parts Stooges and Rolling Stones, The
Flaming Sideburns somehow re-channel the great garage-rock explosion of
the 60's and 70's and blast it out with '00 style, creating a sonic
blend of melodic know-how and blazing guitar smarts. This is what bands
like The Strokes strive for but fall short, with not enough rock 'n'
roll blood and not enough pop appreciation to really drive it home.
Fuck, if the Flaming Sideburns were any hotter, they'd melt. I must
thank The Flaming Sideburns for contributing significantly in the fight
to save rock from the hands of corporate tool bands - but we won't
mention any names. I'll give this an A."
Written by: Alex Steininger (In Music We Trust)
The Flaming Sideburns - Save Rock'n'Roll
"If the Flaming Sideburns had been playing this stuff in 1965, they would
be lauded today as one of the great lost bands of the 1960s. Instead,
they are the next garage act to come out of Scandinavia, 40 years after
the music was invented in America. They owe their pedigree to the sound
of the Sonics: raunchy, r&b-infused rock and roll. Not rock; rock and
roll. Save Rock 'n'Roll is rich with simple, urgent riffs—played with
the needles in the red and without a bit of subtlety. This is the sound
of adolescents after they've mastered their first three chords.
The band's sound is simple: two guitars, one charging ahead with the
rhythm, pounding, pounding, pounding, the other wailing madly in the
background, like a spastic spider set afire. Or like a far more talented
version of Blue Cheer. Loose my soul, Up in Flames and Blow the
Roof start the CD off in fine fashion, offering original takes on the
time honored guitar-bass-drums format. Musically, the individual songs
live up to the anarchy implied by the song titles.
There is an appealing spontaneity in the music here. Some songs end by
turning the meters off, with a 'who the hell cares how it ends, we're
here to play' contempt for studio niceties. More to the point, with the
frenzied playing, can the songs really end in a conventional sense, or
are they really designed to self-destruct?
A third of the way into the album, the pace is slowed a bit with
Flowers" This switch is necessary in order to give the listener and
his or her CD player a reprieve. It's a taut, understated number, not a
ballad by any sense of the imagination, but it does show that The
Flaming Sideburns have more than one dimension. But with no warning,
they quickly return to the torrential music make they make best, as
Flowers unfolds into World Domination.
World Domination? I think the band can rightly
settle for dominating the stereos of discriminating music fans around
the world for the time being. As an album title, Save Rock'n'Roll
definitely fits the times. If you've been into the Strokes for the last
year, you'd probably find this to your liking."
Written by: Ken King / Junkmedia.org, October 4, 2002
- Lähde: Bad Afro Records 11.10.2002
Epe's Levykauppa
