Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - 'Baby 81' (Island) Released 30/04/07

The career of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has been an interesting one, to say the least. Arriving on a tidal wave of hype, their debut album in 2001 was eagerly snapped up by a generation looking for new guitar heroes.  Its brooding, feedback heavy sound was the coolest thing around, capped off by the band’s blisteringly loud live performances. However the leather clad trio never really advanced in the public eye after that, an average second album and inter band tensions that saw the temporary departure of drummer Nick Jago seeing to their fall from view. Then came the sharp departure from formula of ‘Howl’, a collection of mainly acoustic blues and country songs that firmly established BRMC as more than one trick ponies yet also sold roughly 28 copies.

So where now for the band? ‘Baby 81’ initially seems a case of back to basics, the guitars are plugged back in and the doomy viciousness of before has returned. And in impressive fashion. Opening track ‘Took Out A Loan’ has a thick blues riff pushing it along while Peter Hayes voice effectively aches with bitterness. If the opener’s thud doesn’t hit the listener between the eyes then follow up ‘Berlin’ certainly will. A streamlined propulsive rocker, it accelerates along and is one of the best things they’ve ever done. There may be some justified criticism of the band’s reliance on certain traditional rock sounds and inspirations but it’s hard not to feel a thrill as Hayes hollers “Suicide is easy, what happened to the revolution” over a hurtling din. ‘Weapon Of Choice’ is next, the early acoustic guitar build up giving way to a throaty roar with the vocals of Hayes and Robert Levon Been bouncing off each other. The acoustic/electric contrast is a call back to the days of ‘Love Burns’ and works just as well.

However, while the opening trio of tracks get the record off to a great start, there may be some worry that by ditching the acoustic guitars BRMC have taken a regressive step, moving backwards in search of past glories rather than trying to expand. Luckily, that’s not the case. For the theme throughout ‘Baby 81’ is of the band taking that prior formula of dynamic, claustrophobic rock and melding it with a bluesier vibe. For the most part it works tremendously well. Windows’ features a barroom piano vamp while there’s chugging stop/start guitars on ‘Lien On Your Dreams’, giving them both a hard hitting, raw feel.