The DonnasBitchin' | Purple Feather  October 1,
2007 5:02:42 PM
|
The Donnas do what the Donnas do, and, hard as it may be to believe, they’ve been doing it for more than a decade. Call it a stripped-down, garage-punked take on early Kiss/Mötley Crüe glam metal, delivered with a hefty dose of smokin’-in-the-boys’-room attitude. The Donnas’ coming-out party, 1998’s American Rock ’n’ Roll Machine (Lookout!), has been a tough act for them to follow, even as they emerged on a major label in 2002. (Atlantic backed the foursome for two albums.) Now returned to their own Purple Feather label, the band haven’t changed their bad-grrrl rock-and-roll-queenie approach (“I want it bad/I want it now” sings Brett Anderson in “Wasted,” a song based on the old love-is-a-drug cliché) so much as they’ve refined it. And refinement is a double-edged sword. Early on, there was something appealing about the Donnas’ raw, teasing, tongue-in-cheek take on boy rock and their rudimentary arena-rock riffage. Seven albums later, guitarist Allison Robertson’s leads may be more polished, and flamboyant embellishments like the “Love Gun” snare salvos that kick off the disc’s title track may be tighter, but it feels as if the band’s loose, party-hearty excitement had run its course. Indeed, they seem in a rush to get through Bitchin’: each track rams into the next, like a desperate football team running a hurry-up offense with no time-outs. The Donnas get the ball into the red zone from time to time on Bitchin’, but they never really score.
The Donnas + Donita Sparks | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | October 7 | 617.931.2000
|
 |
|
- Comic timing
- Five things you'd better keep straight.
- The little Dutch boys who could
- Never mind its tough-girl alt-porn feminism: SuicideGirls has already moved on to a new generation
- Steve Albini speaks
- Red Sox songs that don't suck
- Kick him when he's down
- Lessons from the build-them-up, tear-them-down Boston firefighter backlash
- Steve Albini speaks
- Covering all the bases with first-class Albanian and more
- The real significance of hired guns in Iraq. Plus, combating Ann Coulter.
- PBRC’s Two Can Play finds a moving balance
|
-
The ongoing saga of Dinosaur Jr.
-
Tori Amos, Orpheum Theatre, October 19, 2007
-
Getting into Radiohead’s In Rainbows
-
Damon + Naomi's house party
-
Dangerbird Records' free nominated downloads
-
The personal side of Tedy Bruschi
-
Freezepop just wanna rock
-
Animal Collective, Avalon, September 5, 2007
-
Bad news begets good tunes
|
- Jeff Beam’s solo debut passes Rock 101
- Vanguard
- Sloe Gin | J+R Adventures
- Chrome Dreams II | Reprise
- La Cucaracha | Rounder
- Proof of Youth | Sub Pop
- Afriki | Cumbancha
- Revival | Fantasy
- Join the Club | self-released
- Washington Square Serenade | NewWest
|
|
|
|