Strange but very very tasty...!
J. Kooi Jr. | groningen, netherlands | 03/25/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A record that takes a couple of spins probably to get to you..but when it does.. Great record! Strange Boys sound both like a lot of other bands and like no other band.. Think midtempo Black Lips, Little Red Rooster style Stones, some Howlin' Wolf guitar, some doo woppy atmospheres, some Marc Bolan style vocals. A few songs kinda rock whereas some others are hardly songs at all at first listen. But those guitars swirl and screech and never ever fail to make their point. One of those records that start their life in the wings and then slowly move to the middle of the room and grab everyone's attention..It's also the kinda record that works best as a whole, so don't go picking single songs!"
Blast of Fresh Air
Paul McGrath | Sacramento, CA | 11/20/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Rock and roll is pretty much dead, of course, at least popularity-wise, but my goodness gracious, there remain a few pretty good acts out there and this, by God, is one of them.
Garage rock is what a major internet music service that starts with a P called it. Garage rock? Really? Is that what the Who or the Kinks or the Stones of 1965 were? Boy, you sure could have fooled me. What those bands of that era represented--and what these Strange Boys represent--is pure, unadulterated, blasting, FUN rock and roll. Garage rock indeed. No, there is no Satisfaction or You Really Got Me here, but there are about a dozen songs on this album that could easily have fit on any first-rate British Invasion album of the mid-sixties. And I mean, yes, at least a dozen.
These guys are two guitars, a bass, drums, an occasional harmonica, and a sneering, snarling little malcontent of a singer who comes across amused as much as he is angry. Most of the time he just seems to be perplexed, but who cares? You think people listen to rock and roll because they want social change? Go listen to the Eagles, you little rodent.
Yeah, rock and roll is dead and popular music is godawful but every once in a while a band like this pops up that shows it understands what slashing, blues-based rock is supposed to be, and I for one like it. A lot.
"