It's hard to believe that it's been six whole years since Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released their first album, an eponymous epitome of cool that placed them firmly at the pantheon of retro-styled musical gods. Remember hearing Love Burns, Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll or Spread Your Love for the first time? All energetic, pulsating thrills of songs that, albeit far from original, were damned cool nonetheless. Its 2003 follow-up Take Them On, On Your Own exhibited more of the same dark, deliberate psych-rock 'n' roll; yet, despite having a decent core, its ineffectuality, along with record company conflict saw them dropped by Virgin the following year. When drummer Nick Jago left not long after to deal with his drink and drug addiction, the future seemed bleak for remaining members Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been. Their 'rallying' album - 2005's stripped-down, blues-folk triumph Howl - proved to be more than a gap-filler however, and its overwhelming success provided a lifeline to their recording, and most probably, professional career. So, after an album which threw fans and critics alike, can we expect an extension of that innovation and craft with its successor? No, we can't. Baby 81 (named after the 81st baby hospitalised after the 2004 tsunami, who was claimed by nine sets of parents) harks back to BRMC's earlier work (Jago has now returned, too); the only problem is that their earlier work was largely too samey to begin with. Most of Baby 81 is tired and predictable fare - grinding, scuzzy, bluesy rock 'n' roll all held together by Hayes' languorous drawl. Weapon of Choice is at least relatively more melodic, its driving political undertones ('I won't waste my love on a nation') recalling US Government from TTO,OTO; Window almost sounds like a beefed-up psychedelic Beatles track, although it's ruined by the gratuitous, verging-on-prog guitar solo, and All You Do Is Talk brings in a funereal organ riff to liven things up. It's frustratingly bland overall though; if it wasn't so glaringly obvious that BRMC can do better, it wouldn't be so disappointing.
