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I got this recently and have been listening to it quite a bit. I
also have "In Heat", and to be quite honest, that didn't do a lot
for me. The playing is great and they have their own unique take on
the music, but it just felt kind of overly-hyperactive
and "punkish". Still, I recognize them as being very good, just not
exactly my style.
I didn't give up on them though, so I tried them again with
their "Ride The First Wave" CD. This CD is mainly all covers, many
of them very obscure. I was familiar with maybe a third of the
songs, if that. This is an excellent CD, I reallly like it a lot. It
takes quite a bit of guts to put out a CD that has 30 songs on it,
especially if you aren't a good band. But this is not a problem
here, I did not suffer from "band fatigue".
Of the songs I am familiar with, The Bitch Boys didn't just play
note for note sterile copies (e.g. Supertones). They made sometimes
significant changes to the melodies, arrangements, and of course the
tones on the guitars. I assume they did the same with the other
songs. In fact, in some cases, they changed some key parts so much
that at first I was kind of pissed off. But then I realized this was
a good thing, making the song their own, and their version actually
was a cool and valid interpretation of the original.
The Bitch Boys understand the value of the rhythm guitar. In fact,
some of the songs feature 3 guitars, and they work together very
well (even though the original may have had only 1 or 2 parts). The
rhythm guitar mainly does lots of chording, but of course there is
ample Astronauts style "chunking" (heavily reverbed root notes).
Very nice! They rhythm section in general is very tight, it's a
wonderful thing.
Sonically, you recognize each song as The Bitch Boys right away.
They definitely have their own recognizable style. The lead guitar
can be quite savage, and often seems to me to have a touch of echo
in addition to reverb. They can be very aggressive and can double
pick with the best of them. However, they also can play quite
delicate and beautifully, as evidenced by the stunning cover of
Podolor's "Dracula's Theme" (one of my favorite tracks on the CD).
(As an aside, I eagerly await the upcoming Podolor tribute, but I
have a great fear that the bands on the compilation will totally
steam roller Podolor's delicate and understated style...this remains
to be seen...)
Overall, one of the best CD's I have heard lately, highly
recommended listening!! Great playing, great tones, and lots of
originality and creativity, especially for a so called all-covers
album!
BN
