Show & Tell - The Datsuns, "The Datsuns" CD review

THE DATSUNS
THE DATSUNS

HELLSQUAD RECORDS/V2 RECORDS

Maybe it's finally time to acknowledge that I'm old and jaded. I really wanted to like this record. I really did. I'd heard this disc on the headphones at Tower Records in Dublin earlier this year before it was released in the States, and I've heard amazing things about these New Zealanders' guitar-bashing live shows. Maybe I should check them out live instead.

I liked what I heard at the listening station in Dublin, but the headphones were kind of greasy and Shellac's stunningly good "At Action Park" was playing over the store's PA system (the only time I've ever heard that record played anywhere other than my own apartment), so I didn't really give it a good listen. But when I saw The Datsuns' eponymous new record on the pile of promo CDs at the Show & Tell office, I was psyched. And when we popped it in the CD player, Scott [Sisti, S&T's editor-in-chief] immediately turned and said, "Oh yeah, this has your name written all over it."

I guess what I'd say about "The Datsuns" is this: It's exactly the kind of thing you'll like if you like this kind of thing. Although at the same time, the ironic thing is that this is the kind of thing I like, and yet I don't like this.

So let me tell you what "this" is. The Datsuns' brand of rawk draws a wavy line from the New York Dolls to Deep Purple, over to early Judas Priest and around Faster Pussycat, swerving around Mudhoney, bumping into the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and ending somewhere near Turbonegro and the Supersuckers. Are you hearing it now? They're one of the new wave of a new wave of the latest new wave of post-glam, post-garage, cock-rock bands like the Hives, the Vines, Sahara Hotnights, the Mooney Suzuki and the Hellacopters that seem to be dragging their long greasy hair and bell bottoms from the far axes of the Earth these days, notably Sweden and, in this instance, New Zealand.

Now granted, I'd probably dig seeing most of those bands live much more than hearing them on vinyl, er, whatever CDs are made of. And I actually like Sahara Hotnights and the Hellacopters quite a bit, so I can't simply lump it all together as derivative stuff that must sound exciting to young ears but that to me is a retread of the music I've been listening to all my life. I mean, really, what's not to like about screaming vocals, fast guitar riffs, fuzz petals and conspicuously skinny long-haired musicians? (Speaking of which, where is the beef? Where have you gone, d. Boon, Tad Doyle and Ernie Locke? Where are the fat rockers!?)

I don't hate "The Datsuns," I simply don't hear anything in this record that's particularly soulful, original or exciting. Maybe some kid who's never heard of any of the bands I mentioned above will discover this disc and fall in love. Great. We all had to start somewhere. But hopefully that kid'll be inspired to go and dig a little deeper to find a Stooges or Motörhead record.

The Datsuns are currently all the rage in the UK and have recently been pegged by NME as "the best live band on the planet." When I lived in England almost ten years ago, NME and the other British music magazines were flaunting what they then called the New Wave of New Wave, whose standard-bearers included These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H. Remember them? Unlikely. I liked those bands, but they didn't make much of a splash here in the U.S. of A. While S*M*A*S*H had at least one Top 40 hit in the UK, I actually saw them play at a bar in Boston in front of a huge crowd of maybe five people.

Point being that sometimes "the latest thing" doesn't translate across the pond. Point being that reviews I've read by other blue-blooded Americans make clear that I ain't the only one for whom this record rings a bit tired and derivative and monotonous. Point being that maybe I have reached the age at which very little sounds new and exciting any more, where I can almost always say, "been there, done that." Point being that despite my cynicism, I'm still looking forward to hearing the new Turbonegro and Supersuckers albums. Point being that you should definitely check out Shellac's "At Action Park." Point being that The Datsuns' live show still apparently kicks much ass.

Incidentally, while I was listening to this record at work, a colleague walked into my office and said it sounded like Guns N' Roses. Point being that I hate Guns N' Roses.

review by killjoy