Camaros
Glad, Evil And Bad
Big Dipper Records

I intended to include the new album by Jim Stärk on last moonth's menu. It has been hailed all over Norway since it was released in March, to the extent it made me quite curious, or... maybe not. Anyhow, I was taken aback by the nice pop songs in the singer-songwriter tradition and the slick production. There are no sharp edges, hardly any edges at all. I had to give in after about six songs. What a relief then, to put on the new Camaros album instead. It's no doubt been consciously filled with razor sharp edges, to the rim...

It's easy to categorize the music of Camaros: blues-based dirty rock'n'roll or rock-based filthy blues. Somehow the term 'blues-rock' doesn't quite fit. Christian Sandaker's guitars and voice, both of them with and without distortion, dominate the album. His voice and Camaro's music is similar to Captain Beefheart's and his Magic Band, David Thomas' and Pere Ubu or Jack White's and White Stripes, to some extent. Camaros is somehow more basic, maybe even traditional, despite a voice filled with despair and desperation, fuzz-twisted guitars, smouldering Hammond and Farfisa organ and harmonica. Apart from the title, "You Gotta Love That Jesus" will hardly be blessed neither by the late nor the present pope. "Guitarman" is as over the edge as can be. "I'm Glad" is my special pet. It's not a particularly happy song, but the bass riff throughout is ultra cool!

The kind of garage-rock-blues Camaros serves covers a quite limited area. It's a good thing then that the album only lasts 33 and a half minutes. Back to basic LP-length of the 60, eh! Even a good half hour might be too much at a time, at least on disc. If you get tired in the middle of the album, you can always put on something completely different. Something soft-core, the new Jim Stärk album for instance. And soon Glad, Evil And Bad will turn into a revelation, again.

And Big Dipper is still a very nice shop and label!

Copyright © 2005 JP