(Muso's Guide, February 16, 2009)
Single review
In any record collection, there are bands you quite like - maybe bought their first record but didn’t really follow them - and there are music legends, the sort of throw-it-all-into-the-mix, grinding, exciting, thrillride for the senses.
They make consistently exciting records and their live show is enough to make you sell your gran, and it doesn’t even matter if it’s a bit cold out and your new haircut’s rubbish, because ohmigod this band are just sensational. Hurtling onto the international music scene back in 2001, The Von Bondies coulda-woulda-shoulda been that band.
Surfing the Atlantic wave which brought The Strokes and, most notably, The White Stripes into the UK’s musical consciousness, they started out with the very best sort of musical promise - the dirty, sleazy, bluesy kind. Having long since severed ties with former Detroit compadres The White Stripes, The Von Bondies are back with new record Love, Hate And Then There’s You and this lead single, which bears little resemblance to the blues rock punch which brought them fame.
Make no mistake, ‘Pale Bride’ is a serviceable pop rock canter, and Jason Stollsteimer - on this co-writing with drummer Don Blum - can still command a rock chorus better than anyone out there, with his extraordinarily expansive range and slightly operatic vocal trill. But the dirty blues which make Lack Of Communication great and Pawn Shoppe Heart distinctive has missed this particular track off the list. Starting with a rumbling guitar of no small wonder, Stollsteimer is straight in with his holler of melancholy, singing, “Here she comes, my pale bride”. There’s a singalong chorus, and the pounding drums keep the pace up, but this is a record which could have been made by any other band.
Crucially, it could have been made by The Von Bondies four years ago, which is more than a little disappointing. Fingers crossed that Love, Hate And Then There’s You will have more to impress.
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