This post should focus on two questions. The first one being, why don’t I own any albums from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club? The second, why did I choose Howl as my first?
I’ll begin by making this easy for you; I don’t know why I don’t own any Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (who from now on I will call BRMC out of laziness). They are amazing. Seeing them live is amazing.
The selection of Howl was hard, it seems $9.99 was the going rate at JB for all BRMC albums. I would liken my dilemma to picking a favourite child. I spent half an hour (I wish I was joking) looking between Howl and Take Them On, On Your Own. Both had sweet covers, both a decent number of songs I heard them play live. There was no competitive edge…until I started thinking about possible outside influences. For some reason Take Them On reminded me of a title Yo La Tengo would use; a little bit, I’ll kick your ass but be kind enough to tell you first. I liked this.
Howl gained the competitive edge because it shared the name of my favourite poem…Howl (by Ginsberg). I love me some beatnik phrasing, ideals, clothes…I knew that this was the album that would be the focus of my review (I use that term loosely). Upon “researching” the album when I got home I discovered that its name was directly taken from the poem…score!
This album is like a movie about an epic tale. We open with the upbeat homey feel, flip down to the title track where our hero sets off on the quest with a little bit of hope and a whole lot of trepidation before meandering through the journey of the album…it finishes on a high note.
I don’t know if it’s the southern sound, the country influences or the hints of gospel but I love this album. Last year NME dedicated an issue to great “cult” albums in which this album featured. I can see why.
I give it a well-worn rock t-shirt and 4 discount stickers.
Will I ever buy a dud?
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