A twofer from my review queue. These albums happened, at random, to come up back-to-back, and they inspired me to rip up my T-Shirt and dance around playing air guitar (not a pretty sight), so I thought they deserve a post. Two really good rock albums, in a year that seems to favor rote hip hop and twee/light music. Maybe it’s a sign for us to return to our rock roots.

THE BLAKES-Self Titled.

First, The Blakes. Regular readers who actually come here for content may recall that I reviewed The Blakes’ self-titled EP last month, promising they’d release a full length in October.

Well, they’re delivering. The good news is, most of the great songs from the EP (like “Magoo,” for instance) are on the album. The great new is, they actually have a full album’s worth of material. All meat, no filler, this is hot and hard rock and roll without any whining, politics, pretension or themes deeper than odes to a “perfect body” (“Modern Man”) and hot chicks. My favorite line: “I’m caught up in your legs, I don’t wanna get out!” (From “Don’t Bother Me.”) But there’s plenty of other hot lyrics laid over hot licks.

The Stones don’t make real rock anymore. Thank God for the Blakes

Don’t Bother Me

Magoo

RED COLLAR-Hands Up!

“Cocaine and caviar, baby!” If you miss the pre-mopey days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, you’ll love Red Collar. Hailing from North Carolina, the band has been saturating bloggers with review requests — and I can’t blame them for being excited. This is a really great rock and roll record. Kinda punk, kinda hard rock, and tons of fun, this is a rare example of an EP that leaves me wishing there was a complete album to listen to.

Since I’m such a slow blogger, you’ve probably already heard about them from the umpteen sites that reviewed them already, but I’m posting anyway. Lets create a groundswell. More Red Collar!

Hands Up!

Stay

Go to Power Up Records to buy the EP. Just $6.50, including shipping.