The Von Bondies: Pawn Shoppe Heart : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"I'm a broken man/This here's my broken band/ From a broken land/We call Detroit City": It sounds like a Jack Black parody of rock & roll poetry, but it's as deep as the lyrics get for Von Bondies frontman Jason Stollsteimer. But Pawn Shoppe Heart is powered by righteous riffs, and like a Luddite love child of Alice Cooper's "Eighteen" and Skid Row's "18 and Life," the Von Bondies' second proper album offers all the kicks of a souped-up kit car roaring down the open road. Don Blum drums like the wheels are falling off. Stollsteimer's and Marcie Bolen's guitars sizzle like spit on a griddle. And just as Kim Deal's vocal turns used to upstage Black Francis, bassist Carrie Smith sings "Not That Social" with all the seductive soul that Stollsteimer's caterwauling can't quite manage. Plus, the awesome "Crawl Through the Darkness" just might be strong enough to fight off their neighbors' "Seven Nation Army."