The Forty-Fives - High Life High Volume

The back-to-the-future success of the Hives, Jet, and the Strokes has proven that roots rock is a decidedly relative term. But while much of those bands' work is rooted in a '70s-vintage melange of hooks, crunch, and sass, Atlanta's Forty-Fives are driven by a fetish for another decade entirely: the raw, mid-'60s thrash of the British Invasion and American contenders like the Standells. On this, the quartet's third album, they've driven that fervent, back-to-the-garage sensibility into a virtual musical time warp, an ironic pop conundrum that will sound invitingly fresh to Generation Y-ers, while evoking a sense of strange nostalgia in boomers. The key here is the album's sole cover, an energetic workout of the obscure early Who album track "Daddy Rolling Stone" that succeeds, as did the original, on sheer, committed chutzpah. Backed by the band's driving retro-beat, vocalist Bryan Malone barrels through standouts like "Bad Reputation" and "Who Do You Think You Are" with impressive abandon before taking a twangy respite with the Stonesy country blues of "Bicycle Thief." The Flamin' Groovies may have pioneered this shtick back in those now-hallowed '70s, but their efforts sound self-consciously precious by comparison; the Forty-Fives are content to simply live and die by the rave-up. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Bluesy garage rock from Atlanta

No doubt this band is tired of being likened to Jet, but with the latter serving as the video poster-boys for this year's go-round of punchy guitar-based rock (having supplanted The Hives, The Vines, White Stripes and other), the comparison is inevitable. But where Jet leans on 70s and 80s stalwarts like Humble Pie and AC/DC, the Forty Fives tread back to mid-60s garage rockers such as The Sonics and Standells, early-70s anti-flower power bands like The Stooges and MC5, and 80s revivalists such as The Lyres and Chesterfield Kings.

The Forty Five's second full-length CD for Yep Roc serves up 10 originals so steeped in the genre that they might as well be covers, and one actual cover - an early-Who styled take of "Daddy Rolling Stone." All are loaded with guitar hooks, supplemented by harmonica, sax and the unmistakable sound of Hammond B-3, underlining raucous rock 'n' roll with a soulful touch of Stax. The band revisits the bar-blues-in-the-garage sounds of the Stones, Shadows of Knight, and Black Crowes with the élan of true rock 'n' roll believers - a commodity that's been in short supply lately. July 3, 2004

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