Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Howl Release Date : August 23, 2005. Label: RCA/Red Ink. Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. Gospel country blues... Huh? Whatever BRMC was smoking on their last record, they've stopped doing it now. Maybe they got into the moonshine or something, maybe it was set off by being label-dropped, but shucks, they sound alive and coherent on this record, which is terribly unprecedented. And it's beautiful! It's hard to really tell where BRMC feels itself going from here, but as an isolated album, it's great fun. A mix of trotting hand-clappers and footstompers, and mellow, soaring slowness. At moments I feel like there's a lot of 16 Horsepower in here, and then moments of Neil Young, and then some nods to old blues legends, harmonicas, sexy guitars. The title track turns dangerous-sounding as we hit the first chorus. Amazing harmonies... really well done. I'm still in shock and I've listened over it a few times. It's so well put together! This is a respectable, well-thought-out album. Who knew these weirdos could pull it off? "Weight Of The World" is nice, has good flow, and sounds like a theme song from the 60's. Oh it's all just so sexy. I have to go have a cold shower. "Gospel Song" (go figure!) catches one off guard when it slips that guitar in under all the soft vocals. This is like that Pearl Jam song where they did that cover, you know the one about the car crash... same 50's doowop vibe (which seems to be popular lately...). But then it gets awesomely sexy again. Still dark. Spooky. Nighttime. Mmm. Song of choice : "Ain't No Easy Way" is tops, with the freaky wild slide guitar. Take that, Ben Harper! Actually, remember that Days Of The New band? Maybe that's not the 'nicest' comparison, but they had that "Touch, Peel and Stand" song that made them so famous that featured the exact same sort of snarling, no bullshit slide guitar.      -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Black Rebel Motorcycle Club website Published : November, 2005.