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Bobby Bare Jr. | Young Criminals' Starvation League

Lambchop, Stax-like horns, and a whole lot of passion.
CD, Munich

Tekst: Alex Tobin

Publicatiedatum: 09 juli 2002

"This letter is addressed to Mr. Pete Townshend
Hey brother, I write you to say thanks for nothin'
Your generation used up all the feelings
And if we rock, it looks like we're ripping you off."

Bobby Bare Jr. has a lot to be pissed off about, or so it seems. The son of country legend Bare Sr. - who makes a cameo appearance here on the Shel Silverstein classic Painting Her Fingernails - young Bobby has been exposed to the inner machinery of Nashville and its often ruthless workings virtually all of his life. In the past, this has resulted in a couple of southern-rock-in-a-barroom-brawl-with-Nirvana albums, fronting his own combo Bare Jr. Now, he's going it alone, and Young Criminals' Starvation League is a very fine introduction.

Enlisting a clutch of alt.Nashvillians Lambchop (Marky Nevers also takes over the production duties here) along with a gaggle of session horn players, Young Criminals' Starvation League is full of sadness, disappointment, even bitterness, but luckily it doesn't stoop to spew and spit all of its bile into the listener's face. Beautiful Stax-like horns alternate with Bare Jr.'s voice, which often recalls a lofi and more real version of David Gray, and the songs here are just caustic enough, without losing their charm and wit.

Dig Down, quoted above, is an open letter to rock gods of yesteryear such as Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix, asking in wild-eyed amazement how they managed to mine all of the natural resources in the subterranean landscape of rock music, leaving all of the topsoil and garbage to the new breed of cheap, second-rate imitators. I'll Be Around, the album's opener, is a simple promise to a friend, framed by Bare's honest and endearing lyrics: "And if you ever get around to looking for me / don't bother asking where I've been seen / for I'm in the same place that you left me / caressing your memory." Flat Chested Girl From Maynardville and The Monk At The Disco both portray slightly awkward characters, uncomfortable within the confines of their own bodies, yet Bare never condescends. This is a man who cares, and these intimate pictures of unfortunate figures only add to the emotional depth on display here.

Of course, none of this would be half as fun if Bobby Bare Jr. hadn't decided to include a rollicking, pedal steel-driven, country version of The Smiths' classic What Difference Does It Make. Far from being a jokey karaoke version, Bare manages to pull off singing Morrissey's words with a true fan's dedication.

Legendary American DJ Casey Kasem once said: "Keep reaching for the stars, and keep your feet on the ground." Bobby Bare Jr. manages to do both, and you'd be a fool to pass up the small treasure that is Young Criminals' Starvation League.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/bobby-bare-jr/young-criminals-starvation-league/1685/
Meer Bobby Bare Jr. op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/bobby-bare-jr