2006-06-13
The artwork cover for this Robbie Quine album tells half the story for the album, a character that’s a male but with feminine qualities, very much into early 70's
David Bowie, listening to the album only confirms these suspicions.
Robbie Quine is the singer/guitarist of the glitter goth rock band "Sex with lurch", and this project can't be counted as much different, we experience a flashback into some good old fashion B-movies (“Rocky's horror picture show” may ring a bell or two) and different cult movies, but mostly David Bowie’s rock.
The last couple of years have been filled with the 70's retro waves, bands such as
The Strokes and
The White Stripes have been trying to create similar sounds to those heard in the 70's; "The white stripes" came real close in their masterpiece album "Elephant", creating a balance between their usual vintage guitar sound and recording on an old equipment which actually belongs to the 70's, but even then it was over produced and tight to actually sound like the 70's. The Barbarellatones succeed in creating the sound and mood of the 70's where other great bands failed.
While everyone else try to produce the song as whole in the 70's texture, Robbie Quine and the gang manage to capture the essence of those times, and give each instrument the exact sound it would get in the 70's, special notice to the drums and guitar, almost makes you believe you are listening to a vinyl record.
Further mentioning of Bowies "Ziggy stardust" is almost irrelevant, as it is enough to say it only once, the album is filled with similarities to it Bowie, and not by mistake of with try to cover it, it is proudly heavily influenced by it, the special thing about it is that he doesn't only create the sound of it, but the material is actually filled with essence of that music, and not a copy or recycling it, but original and refreshing for nowadays.
Songs like "Hellbound" and "Underwater dream world" will take you right back there, and you can just sit down in the dark with you headphones and enjoy the mood of its darkened yet fun rock.
“Beyond the valley of the Barbarellatones” is a pretty cool album, and although it has many similar points with great 70s masterpieces, it can't be counted as one. It’s cool having a band that can capture the old feeling and atmosphere, but it has its distance from actually getting to their level.
I recommend this to anyone who wants something new from the old days to get a hold on this album, the worst case scenario is that you will prefer the real thing (Bowie) but you'll definitely find a place in your heart for the barbarellatones, in the best case scenario, you'll simply fall in love.
Roy Povarchik
