Search - Datsuns :: Datsuns

Lock up your daughters

O. Buxton | Highgate, UK | 12/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Throw out the rule book and get off your high horse: If you don't like this record because (i) it's dumb-arsed; (ii) it's unoriginal; or (iii) there are hundreds of other bands out there doing pretty much the same thing, then it is YOU who have the problem, not these Datsun boys from Cambridge, NZ. Here are some home truths: ONE: Rock 'n' roll should not be subjected to literary analysis by middle class graduates of the liberal arts. Never.TWO: It is not meant to avert wars, crusade against poverty, or inform foreign policy. If you want to do that, join a debating club. Yes, you, Bono.THREE: Rock 'n' Rollers should not gaze at their shoes and look annoyed.FOUR: Rock 'n' Roll should not be produced by adolescents in their bedrooms on their computers. Matter of fact, it CAN'T be.FIVE: It isn't to meant to be listened to there, either.SIX: Rock 'n' Roll isn't meant to be progressive. It started out as a fusion of three formulaic types of music (Country, Blues and Gospel), and it remains a formulaic music. There is nothing wrong with using the same three chords the Ramones used. In fact, as you will realise when you listen to the Datsuns, it is a DAMN GOOD IDEA. If you don't understand history you'll never make any. And if you do, you should quote it. It's only respect.SEVEN: Rock 'n' Roll should do just two things: it should annoy the establishment - by being obnoxious, too-loud, too-lewd and too much fun, but far more importantly, it should thrill your pants off, further work your raging teenage hormones into a frenzy and make you want to dance like you've just plugged yourself into the national grid.And from the first chord to the last, that is exactly what the Datsuns do. There is only one sensible way to listen to this record, and that is EXTREMELY LOUD. Thundering guitars and drums, wailing vocals, and hat tipping to all the right folk: the Ramones, Marc Bolan, the Sex Pistols, the Cult, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin. And if the studio album has this much energy, just imagine what they'd be like live. I'd travel five hundred miles to see them (a pity, really, that they live 12,000 miles away). The one question remaining to be answered is "why these guys and not the legions of other bands who do exactly the same stuff?" Fair enough, I guess, but let me pose a question in reply (and this may have more relevance in the UK than the US): if there really are thousands of bands out there like the Datsuns then why the hell do the labels continually force-feed us commercialised, sanitised, manufactured tripe? Why does anyone bother with boy-bands? Why does Craig David have a recording career? Why David Gray? Why Coldplay? What are all these dullards doing in the charts when such urgent (and, you would think, cheap to produce and market) rock 'n' roll languishes unacknowledged in the hinterland? Do the kids REALLY prefer Westlife?The day our chart is again festooned (as it last was in the late seventies) with blistering, oversexed young rock 'n' rollers scaring the willies out of our parents I will concede the point - gladly, in fact: this is an argument I would be happy to lose hands down. But I don't expect it to happen any time soon. Until it does, I am going to preach like John the Baptist about real rock `n' rollers like the Datsuns. BUY THIS RECORD."

Good job for a debut - worth buying - enjoy with beer

Jason Flake | Atlanta, GA United States | 11/08/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Don't be fooled by the hype and categorization with other young bands (hives, etc.). This is different - actual guitar solos! No fixed format other than a few chords per song and sub-par vocals that make it even better.
Best enjoyed with a few beers."