Turbula
Online since August 2002
Music

Great, weird music

Reviewed October 2006

The Longest Meow
The Longest Meow
By Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals Starvation League

Bloodshot Records: 2006

To hear sound clips or learn more about this release, Turbula recommends viewing its Amazon.com entry.

Son of the late country legend of the same name, Bobby Bare Jr.'s muse is far too curious to be contained by a single style of music. Generally classified as "alt rock," even that rather nebulous description is too narrow to properly describe the range of music found on Bare Jr.'s latest release, "The Longest Meow."

"Back to Blue," for instance, is as much Mexican norteno as anything else. "The Heart Bionic" is a cross between late '70s Kinks and mid-'80s British ska. "Sticky Chemical" is ... actually, it's hard to say just what that one is. Sounds like a tuba providing the rhythm, but none is listed – baritone sax maybe? Then the horns kick in and you stop trying to classify it and just sit back and enjoy how utterly captivating it is.

But providing a sense of continuity is the quality of each of these very different songs: They're all well-constructed melodic little gems. In that blending of wonderful melodies and offbeat styles, Bare Jr.'s newest is more reminiscent of Frank Zappa than anything his father did.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).



CD Review Archive | Music Home Page | Turbula Home Page