Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

With recent british exports like Coldplay and Travis playing the soft, sensitive types, it's up to American bands who sound British to become the detached badasses. San Francisco trio Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have devoured and internalized the hazy sounds of seminal U.K. alternative acts the Jesus and Mary Chain and Love and Rockets; the result is their debut album, a mix of woozy, sinister psychedelia. BRMC steer clear of becoming a total knockoff act by filling out their sound with blues-rock romps and spacey elements. "Spread Your Love" is one of the best fuzz-box-driven Stooges-like offerings since, well, the Stooges, while "Rifles" and "Too Real" surf on wave after wave of glistening guitars and blissed-out vocals. Despite the album's addictive qualities, it never quite crosses into transcendent territory - it's more of a sonic Snickers bar than a meal. The creative heyday of Mary Chain and Love and Rockets was little more than a few years; BRMC might be wise to remember that fact when they plan their next album. (RS 867 - April 26, 2001)

MATT HENDRICKSON