BOBBY BARE JR.
Young Criminals’ Starvation League
Bloodshot
· Bare sheds the band Bare Jr., which rocked out on 2000’s Brainwasher, for a solo sass-along.
The first airy notes and the flow of horns and harmonies on the addictive album opener,"I Will Be Around," seize you with Replacements déjà vu, but if Bobby Bare Jr. starts out by kissing his influences, it’s only to gain their confidence so that he can later tie them to the bed and ravage them. Young Criminals' Starvation League is littered with little treasures, a gold mine with only the occasional flake of pyrite thrown into the pan. The naked production holds just the right touch of reverence for all good things that have passed, but at the same time, there is not one derivative note.
The smashing, sadly giddy highlight is a stripped down letter to the cream of rock, including Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry and Black Francis. In it, Bare laments, "Thanks for nothing/ Your generation used up all the feelings/ And if we rock, it looks like we’re ripping you off." If this is what you can do with the leftovers, Bobby, let’s crank up the microwave and dance.
|
