Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Item: Howl
Author: Peter Veness

Howl

(2005)

Reviewed by Peter Veness

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify

Label RCA RecordsDecapolisNovember 2005

blues rock garage rock

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are genuinely alive for the first time

Ha! Thought you had 'em pegged didn't ya. Well, none of us did because Black Rebel Motorcycle Club now sound like a Dylan inspired rollicking blues outfit rather than spitty rockers with not much songwriting ability.

Howl begins with the delectable roll of Shuffle Your Feet, dripping in hand claps, castanet and smooth harmonica. It's a solid start but what comes after is often jaw dropping and never ugly. The title track sounds like a more thoughtful Oasis, guitars jangle in perfect unison and an organ warbles underneath, pinning the whole song to the soul of the band.

It's that word that matters most on Howl. Soul is everywhere and it's obviously the soul of the band, not the manufacturing job of their first two efforts but a genuine, sincere, honest record that is faultless. It's soul not just because of the blues and soul sounds that dominate the record but because there's no pretending - just listen to Still Suspicion Holds You Tight. The song opens up to a glorious harmonica driven jump but not before lyrics not quite as optimistic: "In time, the words will come, they say, with faith,But everything you see just turns you grey".

All of this talk of a completely new sound shouldn't allow us to forget the rawkus blues rock that underpinned the band's self titled debut and 2003's Take Them On, On Your Own. The first sound we heard in 2001 was Love Burns and there's no better example of the roughshod blues the San Fran trio rolled in regularly.

But there really is none of it on Howl. The closest they get is on Shuffle and it's a real long way from Whatever Happened to My Rock'n'Roll. With reinvention Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are genuinely alive for the first time and it's a very fine thing to have them with us.

3.5/4