Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
After completely (and successfully) rehauling their sound for 2005's Howl, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club shelved their low-key Americana leanings, reburied their roots music influences, and retreated to a new version of their old, noisy sound. Baby 81 is a big rock record with walls of crunchy guitars, thundering drums, and lots of volume that sounds like a cross between Oasis and the Jesus and Mary Chain at their most conventional. It's also an over-polished, over-thought, and under-inspired record that forsakes everything good that the group accomplished on Howl (subtlety, emotion weight, solid songcraft) in favor of stale melodies, vacant lyrics, and clichéd bad-boy rock & roll posturing. Songs like "666 Conducer," "Berlin" (which is saddled with the howlingly bad chorus "Suicide's easy/What happened to the revolution?"), the slick new wave bandwagon-hopper "American X," and the clunky "Lien on Your Dreams" are like paint-by-numbers rockers that even JAMC would set aside as too bland. The Mary Chain comparison is blindingly obvious, but maybe a bit unfair to the Reid brothers; even at their most generic, they always had the evil force of their personalities to help sell their pose, but BRMC has no personality to fall back on. This album slinks past in an embarrassing haze of forgettable songs and missed opportunities. Even the couple of tunes that start off promising, like the moody "All You Do Is Talk" or "Am I Only" (which teases by opening with a quiet acoustic guitar passage), are ruined by the hackneyed production and the overall tired, desperate feeling that pervades the album. After Howl, it seemed like the group was poised to make some very good, honest-sounding records. Instead they have succumbed to an ill-fated attempt to get back in the rock & roll game, and it's a painfully disappointing artistic failure.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From 12.49€/month
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer - Ming Vauze, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Michael Been, Producer - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MainArtist - Rick Parker, MixingEngineer, SoundEngineer - PETER HAYES, Composer - Robert Levon Been, Composer
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Album review
After completely (and successfully) rehauling their sound for 2005's Howl, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club shelved their low-key Americana leanings, reburied their roots music influences, and retreated to a new version of their old, noisy sound. Baby 81 is a big rock record with walls of crunchy guitars, thundering drums, and lots of volume that sounds like a cross between Oasis and the Jesus and Mary Chain at their most conventional. It's also an over-polished, over-thought, and under-inspired record that forsakes everything good that the group accomplished on Howl (subtlety, emotion weight, solid songcraft) in favor of stale melodies, vacant lyrics, and clichéd bad-boy rock & roll posturing. Songs like "666 Conducer," "Berlin" (which is saddled with the howlingly bad chorus "Suicide's easy/What happened to the revolution?"), the slick new wave bandwagon-hopper "American X," and the clunky "Lien on Your Dreams" are like paint-by-numbers rockers that even JAMC would set aside as too bland. The Mary Chain comparison is blindingly obvious, but maybe a bit unfair to the Reid brothers; even at their most generic, they always had the evil force of their personalities to help sell their pose, but BRMC has no personality to fall back on. This album slinks past in an embarrassing haze of forgettable songs and missed opportunities. Even the couple of tunes that start off promising, like the moody "All You Do Is Talk" or "Am I Only" (which teases by opening with a quiet acoustic guitar passage), are ruined by the hackneyed production and the overall tired, desperate feeling that pervades the album. After Howl, it seemed like the group was poised to make some very good, honest-sounding records. Instead they have succumbed to an ill-fated attempt to get back in the rock & roll game, and it's a painfully disappointing artistic failure.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 14 track(s)
- Total length: 01:04:08
- Main artists: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: [PIAS] Recordings Catalogue
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock
2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company. 2007 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
Improve album information
Why buy on Qobuz...
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalogue with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.