Reigning Sound "Love and Curses" 2009****

There was a time when garage punk was all about raw energy: being loud, fast and irreverent towards rock's sacred cows. Certainly that's all Greg Cartwright did when he played in the Oblivians. Songwriting? Who needs that? Just scream and yell as hard as you can! How ironic is it that 15 years later everyone would praise him for his classicist approach to rock songwriting? Reigning Sound is still nominally a garage rock album, but you'll find more similarities to Motown soul, The Stones and Springsteen ("The Bells" could have been an outtake from The River) than with The Sonics. Actually its reverence for classic rock and soul may be this album's sole "fault" - almost all songs are originals but you'd swear they are golden oldies. The only cover is Glass Sun's "Stick Up For Me", a fiery garage rocker with driving organ and a defiant anti-establishment message. A few more unrepentant garage rockers ("Call Me","If I Can't Come Back", "Dangerous Game") keep the energy level high, but on the whole it's less like a wild car chase and more a smooth ride in the country. "Brake It" sounds like mid-60's Stones and the mid-tempo "Trash Talk" like The White Stripes chilling out. There are a few excellent ballads (the folky "Love Won't Leave You A Song" and soulful "Something To Hold Onto"). Cartwright generally injects a healthy dose of soul into most of these songs, understandably as he had spent some of the previous years working with 60's soul veterans and as an on-and-off member of garage-soul combo The Detroit Cobras. The groovy organ-drenched "Broken Things" and garage-y "Debris" have a whiff of Dylan circa '65 about them (always a good thing), while ballad "Polly Anne" and rocker "Is It True" take me back to the days of The Paisley Underground - whether it is the revival of a revival or just timeless good music is a moot point. The album ends with something completely out of place: "Banker And A Liar" is an acoustic protest song complete with mandolin and accordeon. In this Memphis soul LP, it sounds as lost as a refugee from Beirut (the band, not the city). It must have worried Cartwright's fans as to his next move, but they shouldn't have: not only did Reigning Sound stay on the garage-soul path, he even resurrected The Oblivians for some good ole punk rock thrashing!

**** for Trash Talk, Call Me, The Bells, Something To Hold Onto, Broken Things, Debris, Stick Up For Me, Polly Anne, Is It True, Banker And A Liar

*** for Brake It, If I Can't Come Back, Dangerous Game, Love Won't Leave You A Song