Termbo Review

Mother's Children "...That's Who!" LP

Glam-rock/power-pop hybrid action from Ottawa's current kings of swing, riding high off the A-Side of their 7" which was a banga-banga humpa-humper. This thing shimmies and shakes from start to finish, absolutely bursting with exuberant hooks, liberal sprinklings of glitter and power-pop with some actual power. They kick it off in style with the cocksure swagger of "Shaky Sue" and don't let up until the dead wax sends the tonearm home. These kids have the chops to pull this whole thing off, the guitar playing is scalding and the drummer is a beast. Strong vocals which they split three ways and all four of them share the songwriting duties to great effect. Meaning it's chock-full of hits, mixing up the expected Slade/Bolan-style moves with the punk energy of The Kids and the sharp poppiness of The Boys. Other quality points: they don't do any covers, they manage to do their thing without goofy costumes or a schticky gimmick (which is something most Bay Area bands have yet to figure out), every single song is about girls and it's recorded really crisp and loud (which is what an album in this genre requires). Drop the needle anywhere on this thing and get a hook stuck upside your head. I'm not much of a fan of this sound overall, but this shit is done so well it transcends my genre specificity. I think it's mostly because of the fact that while they might be playing in a "lightweight" genre of sorts, they still manage to rock with some balls. Glam-pop doesn't have to sound wimpy, take notes here all you wannabe lo-fi popsters and bubblegum chewers; spend less time worrying about your platform boots and bowlcuts and concentrate on rocking the fuck out like these cats. I give it a month before Burger releases this on cassette. Scum stats: it's on Deranged, so watch out for limited test press versions and other "variations" on eBay...just get the black vinyl, it sounds better.(RK)
(Deranged Records // www.derangedrecords.com)