The Muffs [Blonder And Blonder]I can't believe that this is the first time that this disc has appeared in my Blog, it's a mammoth chunk of Powerpop Punk, one of the very best albums to ever grace the genre of Rock, think of a bubblegum version of the Sex Pistols fronted by a girl!, it's a crime that they're still fairly unknown, with 35 minutes and 14 tracks, that's between 2 and 3 minutes per track, nice small slices of 'in yer face' snarl, it's a shame their other albums lack the creativity of this gem, i took this disc over the park while there was still sunlight, a nice dose of walking and music.
The Muffs are a three-piece Band formed in America in 1991, fronted by Kim Shuttuck, their lead singer and songwriter, wow i can't believe she's now 48, she's nearly as old as me, they recorded this album in 1995, the front cover shows a very tight cropped portrait of the trio [photography by Alberto Tolot], with each one missing a part of their head, and yet they're all sharply in focus, big bold colours splashed on the front, and the back inlay is excellent too, a black and white full length shot of the trio, and the track listing is presented clearly with great lettering.
Track after track after track, The Muffs reveal their lyrical genius, they have so many excellent songs on this album, and only a couple that are merely good, it seems to be the mid odd numbered tracks that i liked the most, and here's a synopsis of those tracks i liked,
5 What You've Done - with one sharp crack of the drums [Roy McDonald] we're away, and with a bubbly incessant use of the bass guitar [Ronnie Barnett], this creates the verses that Shattuck sings over, the chorus has her lead guitar come bursting in, and it's so good to hear the second verse revert back to the restrained first, The Muffs like using these middle sections to sing differently [0:58-1:11], using variety as a great tool, with a nice throaty whoa! from Shuttuck to end the song [1:48].
7 End It All - Restrained and jangly guitar to begin with, only in the left channel, and then bursts into life, when the vocals come in it's a nice jangly loud soup [0:07+], the song is short [1:47], and lots of ideas are crammed into this small box, Shattuck begins a strong jangly loud guitar solo [0:51-0:58], but almost as an afterthought decides to cut it short [great anyway], it's a lovely burst of the more lyrical side of The Muffs.
9 I Need A Face - Lovely machine gun attack of the drums at the beginning, and Shuttuck comes straight in singing strong, and then you get those strong shouts on the word 'face', there's a central section [1:11-1:25] that sounds in a higher key, giving a nice musical variety, great swampy guitars.
11 Funny Face - Nice and loud!, the guitar tune squeal at the beginning is great, and again a great sharp attack from the drums, the verses are slightly restrained, but the chorus is one hell of a jangly noise [0:37-0:59], and then another central section [1:46-2:00] where Shattuck changes tack, there's a certain degree of hate and revenge, the guitars afterward are so anthemic [2:02-2:16], a superb song.
5 What You've Done - with one sharp crack of the drums [Roy McDonald] we're away, and with a bubbly incessant use of the bass guitar [Ronnie Barnett], this creates the verses that Shattuck sings over, the chorus has her lead guitar come bursting in, and it's so good to hear the second verse revert back to the restrained first, The Muffs like using these middle sections to sing differently [0:58-1:11], using variety as a great tool, with a nice throaty whoa! from Shuttuck to end the song [1:48].
7 End It All - Restrained and jangly guitar to begin with, only in the left channel, and then bursts into life, when the vocals come in it's a nice jangly loud soup [0:07+], the song is short [1:47], and lots of ideas are crammed into this small box, Shattuck begins a strong jangly loud guitar solo [0:51-0:58], but almost as an afterthought decides to cut it short [great anyway], it's a lovely burst of the more lyrical side of The Muffs.
9 I Need A Face - Lovely machine gun attack of the drums at the beginning, and Shuttuck comes straight in singing strong, and then you get those strong shouts on the word 'face', there's a central section [1:11-1:25] that sounds in a higher key, giving a nice musical variety, great swampy guitars.
11 Funny Face - Nice and loud!, the guitar tune squeal at the beginning is great, and again a great sharp attack from the drums, the verses are slightly restrained, but the chorus is one hell of a jangly noise [0:37-0:59], and then another central section [1:46-2:00] where Shattuck changes tack, there's a certain degree of hate and revenge, the guitars afterward are so anthemic [2:02-2:16], a superb song.
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