The Blue Van
The Art of Rolling

(TVT)

First Appeared in The Music Box, April 2005, Volume 12, #4

Written by John Metzger

On its debut The Art of Rolling, The Blue Van stampedes through 12 tracks in 40 minutes, and in the process, it obliterates the modern-day twists on garage rock that were put in place by The Strokes and The White Stripes. Propelled by the explosive rhythmic drive of drummer Per M. Jorgensen and bass player Allan F. Villadsen, the Danish quartet whips tunes like What the Young People Want and the epic New Slough into a frothy frenzy worthy of both The Kinks and The Who. In fact, Jorgensen’s frantically ferocious touch instantly places him in good company with the late Keith Moon. Elsewhere, there are traces of Led Zeppelin, Them, The Guess Who, and Cream drifting through The Blue Van’s bombastic refrains, but in slathering its music with the eerie textures of a Wurlitzer and a Mellotron as well as the heavy aura of a Hammond B-3 organ, the group offers a tip of its hat to Graham Bond, by successfully tackling his I Want You with a vengeance. While the ensemble ventures into moody psychedelia on The Bluverture and slips into hazy, acoustic-tinged, country-blues on Baby, I’ve Got Time, the bulk of The Art of Rolling is a rip-roaring concoction of barbed-wire blues riffs that are delivered with all of the exuberance that youthfulness can muster. Although this isn’t exactly a groundbreaking formula, it is a winning one, and The Blue Van romps through the past with such playful energy that the raw intensity of its attack becomes impossible to resist.

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Ratings

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2005 The Music Box