Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Howl
Virgin
In the wake of Scorsese’s Dylan documentary No Direction Home, where more than three hours was spent letting us know just how the man was booed and booed when he chose to go electric-iconoclast, we have BRMC’s Howl. These three musicians will probably not be remembered with quite the same fervor for going the other way with this release. Howl (perhaps a reference to Dylan idolater and poet Ginsberg) is a mellow jumble of jangly British-style ballads and anthems. The band has always walked a thin line between loud, fuzzed-out distortion and hippie retro. It seems the jingle-jangle has won out. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club used to encourage the youth of the day to do bad things — now it seems to be nursing a broken heart.
—Colin MacKenzie
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
