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Bobby Bare, Jr.'s Young Criminals Starvation League
The Longest Meow
(Bloodshot)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2006, Volume 13, #9
Written by John Metzger
Anyone who has followed the career of Bobby Bare, Jr. likely is aware that he
is more than capable of penning some startlingly good material. Too frequently,
however, his albums are half-baked exercises, and his better songs are hidden
behind his self-indulgently quirky compositions. Consequently, he hasn’t really
given his casual fans much reason to pay closer attention.
At first glance, Bare’s latest outing The Longest Meow continues to walk down
this same path. The album not only opens with the sound of his band tuning up
like an orchestra, but it also boasts song titles that run the gamut from the
uninspired (Uh Wuh Oh) to the downright silly (Snuggling World
Championships). Nevertheless, in building upon his previous endeavor From the
End of Your Leash, Bare has concocted a new reality for his work, one that
manages to be artistically successful without subverting his distinctive
personality.
The Heart Bionic, for example,
splatters the discordant blaring of a baritone saxophone against its clattering,
punk-driven core, while the heartbreakingly horrific Gun Show, which
arguably is the finest tune that Bare ever has penned, vividly paints the
hard-luck, Southern iconography of Drive-By Truckers with the cinematic mastery
of Wilco. Elsewhere, a mariachi trumpet dances its way through the introduction
and conclusion to the pedal-steel kissed Back to Blue, and a cover of The
Pixies’ Where Is My Mind is rendered with a desolate, aching,
folk-derived flair.
Backed by a band that includes members of Lambchop (Deanna
Varagona), ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (Doni Schroader), Clem
Snide (Ben Martin), and My Morning Jacket (Jim James, Carl Broemel, and Patrick
Hallahan), Bare delivers his typically diverse musical concepts in a far more
seamless fashion than he has in the past, and the rapid pace at which he and his
ensemble worked — The Longest Meow was recorded in a mere 11 hours —
lends a raw, emotional edge to the material. In effect, Bare’s bid to be taken
more seriously has resulted in his most fully realized outing to date.  ½
The Longest Meow is available from Amazon.
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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 © 2006 The Music Box
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