Saturday, January 20, 2007

B.R.M.C. (2001)

"Salvation" Kids these days. Take this California trio, routinely accused of knocking off Jesus and Mary Chain (themselves knocking off the Beach Boys, of course) as "Brit-pop wannabe's." How's that again? Who has the identity problem? While following releases and hindsight have made the case on other grounds for an identity crisis on the part of BRMC (or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, or whatever they're called) as broad as the Grand Canyon, there's not anything here to undermine anyone's appreciation of the songs and performance ... though, admittedly, it must now overcome the band's troublesome prowess as mimics -- of goth, of, yes, Jesus and Mary Chain and its shoegaze progeny, of old-time bluesmen, of Rock Stars. But I believe final judgment will hold that the point here is not just the considerable power mustered, nor its deft deployment, but how matched it is by the unexpected, wry wisdom on matters of redemption, eternity, and mercy. Whether deliberate or by accident, the black and white beauty of it is remarkable.

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