Boston label Rum Bar Records never fails in its mission to make the world safe for old school power pop, garage rock, punk, and rock & roll. Here comes the latest batch. Longtime Boston rock purveyor Sal Baglio (the Stompers, the Peppermint Kicks) once again leads the Amplifier Heads through Super 8, a short set of (sorry) stomping rock & roll, hitting the marks on winsome pop (“They Don’t Dance Anymore”), vintage-sounding glam (“A Song Called Sha La La”), choogling roots rock (“Can’t Put My Finger On It”), and raging garage punk (“Rock N Roll Riot”). With his heart torn between the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Baglio spits out hooks and radiates energy, leading inevitably to rock satisfaction. On The Rideout, fellow Beantown boppers the Chelsea Curve narrow it down to glam-inflected power pop, folding fizzy energy into spicy sugarbombs like “Kindawanna” and the outrageously irresistible “Outta My Head.” Primary singer Linda Pardee hails from long-gone nineties popsters Miles Dethmuffen, so she knows her way around catchy hooks and sneering attitude, making the mini-album easy to love.
Los Angeles’ Glimmer Stars went for nearly twenty years between records, but are trying to make up for lost time with Someday’s a Long Time. With one foot in sleazy punk and the other in sugary power pop, the Stars almost casually knock out catchy donuts of R’n’R luv, starting with the lean & mean “I Don’t Wanna Let You Go Tonight” and ending with the battered, defiant “Better Day.” In between there’s plenty of creamy delights like “It’s the Only Dream I Keep Around” and beer-soaked crunchies like “Snow in Hell.” SoCal slashers Inflatable Idols might legitimately call themselves a supergroup – members have done time in the Adolescents, Agent Orange, Social Distortion, T.S.O.L., Cadillac Tramps, D.I, the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Legal Weapon, Ultrabomb, 45 Grave, and more. But the real genesis is probably the Legendary Swagger, a genre-agnostic batch of rockers with a penchant for old-school R&B that also features bassist/frontman Jim Perrault. No surprise, then, that _GET STIFF!* features firebreathing punk like “Make Some Noise (Quiet As It’s Kept)” and “That’s Mr. Motherfucker to You,” but also drops in the horn-kissed raver “Get Up & Get Out.” Fun stuff.
