Rocket from the Crypt: Group Sounds : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Group Sounds marks the end of Rocket From the Crypt's return to a leaner, harder sound that band leader John "Speedo" Reis hinted at with last year's Ramones-y side project, Sultans. Still, the variety of classic Rocket elements are evident, even more finely honed: bits of soul revue energy (Spector-esque backing vocals, tambourines and tight horn arrangements), songwriterly anthemic release, nods to classic punk auteurs, sexy South-of-the-Border flirtations with danger wrapped in a dynamic, snaky musical package and other frenetic new gems. There's always room for eccentricity, too -- like the twenty-eight-second guitar feedback intro to "Dead Seed" that resembles a vacuum cleaner and a dirgy closer, "Ghost Shark," that features noted Memphis producer Jim Dickinson on piano. (MARK WOODLIEF)