Product Description

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are Peter Hayes, Robert Levon Been, and Nick Jago. This is the first album for the Echo Label following their departure from Virgin Records. Howl features brand new single "Ain't No Easy Way'" which is more country-rock than some of their previous material yet just as rocking.

Track Listing

1. Shuffle Your Feet
2. Howl
3. Devil's Waitin'
4. Ain't No Easy Way
5. Still Suspicion Holds You Tight
6. Fault Line
7. Promise
8. Weight Of The World
9. Restless Sinner
10. Gospel Song
11. Complicated Situation
12. Sympathetic Noose
13. The Line

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23012 in Music
• Released on: 2005-08-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
With a name like Howl, you’d expect the third album from San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to be their ugliest, heaviest statement yet. Think again. Kicking off with the spontaneous acoustic blues stomp of "Shuffle Your Feet", Howl starts as it means to go on: mellow, stoned, and sounding more authentically down-home than any band of sociopathic, narcosis-twisted punks have sounded since Primal Scream holed up in Memphis to write 1994’s Give Out But Don’t Give Up.

"Still Suspicion Holds You Tight" and "Fault Line" crib from early Dylan, rolling drawled vocals, finger-picked guitar and blasts of harmonica into brittle sneers of malcontent, while the sleepy "Promise" offers up a spaced-out, Spiritualized-style ballad embellished with sweet piano and sleepy brass. Meanwhile, as the titles might suggest, "Restless Sinner" and "Gospel Song" reach back still further into the annals of traditional Americana. What happened to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s rock’n’roll? They haven’t lost it altogether, but on Howl they’ve consciously devolved their sound, and this stripped, mostly enjoyable blues record is testament to the virtue of taking a leaf out of the old rulebook – Louis Pattison

CD Description
'Howl' is the third album from transatlantic psych-rock trio Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Whilst not a complete departure from the bands mix of swirling, Ride-esque harmonies and full on blues rock, 'Howl' is certainly a more pared-down affair sonically, with acoustic guitars dominating much of theproceedings. Includes the single 'Ain't No Easy Way'.

Customer Reviews

Howl with pleasure!
I don't buy a lot of recent stuff and I am pretty careful when I do. Once in a while I pick up a phenomenal album and I have to say that the eclectic mix of styles on this album has breadth and depth rarely heard in much chart music. On "Shuffle Your Feet" can you hear Magic Bus by The Who but isn't the style otherwise so familiar? Howl is no mean track but the next two tracks seem very southern states until "Ain't No Easy Way" remodels Led Zeppelin's Fourth Album style brilliantly. Then "Promise" mirrors Beatles in some form. Elvis appears in "Gospel Song", Dylan in "Complicated Situation" and the album finishes without a weak track. This is a piece of work which many aspiring contemporary bands don't every get close to. In comparison to their previous albums this is an unusual change of path that delivers and entertains without disappointment.Where will they go next? Buy it.

A rare modern classic.
If you've read any of my reviews on amazon before, you'll know that I don't throw my five star reviews around to anything short of a classic. And this certainly is a classic.

I've got to say that this album completely blindsided me. Their first two albums were uninspiring to me, really, although both had a handful of brilliant songs, I wasn't a big enough fan to buy them for myself. However, having heard a snatch of lead single 'Ain't No Easy Way,' I bought this record on a whim. I've never been so happy to be this surprised.

Howl is a truly brilliant record, one that should, by rights, have blown its competition out of the water. Almost entirely acoustic, the songs here are scarcely produced and sparsely arranged, and have to stand up purely on their own strengh. Four of the songs are Dylanesque solo numbers, recorded hunched over a sole mirophone with just a guitar for company. They are astonishing.

Outside of that, is the bar-room rocker of the aforementioned 'Ain't No Easy Way,' the dreamlike, woozy title track and the slow-burning closer 'The Line' to contend with. Just about every song here is worth listening to. Only 'The Promise' feels a little syrupy, but it still lasts repeated listens, even if you just skip it once in a while.

I can't say enough good things about this album. A complete about face for this black-clad band, this is the best album you could have bought last year, or even this year.

The Best Album Of The Year So Far
I heard Aint No Easy Way on the radio a few weeks ago and pre-ordered the album as soon as I could. It arrived on its release date (Monday) and it hasnt been out of the cd player yet (Wednesday).

What is definitely isnt is another BRMC cd. Theres no grunge, no dirty dark blues rock here, just beautiful, clean blues/rock/folk. Dont get me wrong, i love BRMC, Spread Your Love is a favourite, but while there are some Rifles on here, this album is neither. Its Dylanesque, its chain-gang America, its still bluesy with country undertones. Sounds like a fine wine - it is.

There may not be anything here that hasnt already been tried before, but BRMC have succeeded in creating a record with a fresh modern take on some old classic styles.

I bought the Limited Edition which has a book like cover. Like the music within, it is clean, simple, classy and understated.

For me, this is the record of the year.