After regressing from the creative height of their second album,
Dayglo
,
Love Battery
finally released an album worthy of their promise. Bringing back to the fore their shimmering
psychedelic pop
, their reduced commercial prospects ignited a fire beneath the band judging from the playing and energy manifested on the album. The addition of
Dan Peters
(
Mudhoney
) on drums definitely tightens the screws, and the reinvigorated rhythm section provides the perfect foundation for guitarist
Kevin Whitworth
's inspired flights of fancy, including, as on
, some of the best slide guitar work in
alternative rock
. This is a remarkably solid album, with not a throwaway track in the bunch. The band mixes it up between slower, thoughtful anthems (
"Punks Want Rights,"
"Corporate Memo"
); roaring, soaring,
punk
-fueled raves (
"Snipe Hunt,"
"Cute One"
); and rich
excursions (
"Faithfull,"
"Confusion Au GoGo"
). Even new directions are well-rendered, as evidenced by the appropriately bluesy
"Colorblind,"
"Guilty of Everything,"
a slow-burn number riding a
Bo Diddley
beat, and
"Monkey Brain,"
which incorporates harmonica into its acid-addled thrall.
Ron Nine
's vocals are more focused than ever, and all the songs are actually about something. If this album had been released in 1993 as their follow-up to
, it'd be on the tips of many lips rather than the answer to the sadly unasked question: Where are they now? ~ Chris Parker