Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the eight-syllable garage rock favorite, has achieved underground success with their previous three albums and now return with a formidable effort, Baby 81.
The band has gradually strayed from their fuzzed-out beginnings into the indie rock realm, accentuated by their third release, 2005's Howl. Baby 81 marks a departure from this trend, with the band plugging in their amps once again.
The result is a collection of swirling psychadelic rock songs flirting with various '60s influences. The album lacks the level of charisma held by that decade's psych-rockers, but delivers some solid sometimes-political tunes, infused with modern sleaze.
The album's opener, ""Took Out a Loan,"" is the album's most rocking track, swaggering with the type of riffs that would make a proper girl blush. It has a touch of the blues while approaching a grunge tendency and is undoubtedly the disc's standout.
""Need Some Air"" is a good candidate for an old jukebox in a basement dive bar, and it adheres to only one condition: play it loud. Its chorus is definitely worthy of a shout-along and keeps the momentum of Baby 81 moving at a swift pace amid some slower songs.
About half the remaining songs keep up the energy of these two tracks, with the other half being slow-burning near-ballads. ""Am I Only"" is one of these, showing the softer side of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Largely acoustic, the song puts Jet's attempts at garage-balladry from Shine On to shame, succeeding where the Aussies failed.
The band approaches electric folk with ""666 Conducer,"" with adept lyricism and the skillful marriage of acoustic and electric elements. Somehow the song retains the blues flavor found on ""Took Out a Loan,"" but just enough to lend the Black Rebel sleaze to an acoustic-based song.
The first single offered by the album, ""Weapon of Choice,"" is another fast-paced noisefest, and fits well within both the softer songs and the hard. This song also marks the most political slant on the disc, pointing out the folly of ""wasting [one's] love on a nation"" in light of current events.
All in all, Baby 81 adequately rocks and strums, showing the band's two personalities. If one thing is true, it's that this record offers something for both pre-Howl fans and those who prefer their acoustic work.
The album itself is named after an unidentified infant discovered amid the Sri Lankan rubble after the destructive 2004 tsunami. Nine couples claimed parentage of the tyke, but only one could claim him.
Baby 81 the album could only be the product of one band, and while it does not reach the high marks set by previous records, like their first or second, it is worthy of consideration, much like the infant of the same name.
