Garage Rock
The Mooney Suzuki
Have Mercy(Elixia)Essential: "99%"
"Loud, boring, and utterly charmless" reads the back cover of the Mooney Suzuki's long-delayed third studio album (on pre-release review copies, anyway), quoting a New York Times review of the Gotham foursome. Any band that cheekily advertises that withering assessment has either got to believe exactly the opposite about itself, or have a very thick skin. In the Mooney's case, it's both. The band -- led by singer-guitarist Sammy James Jr. and lead guitarist Graham Tyler -- slugged it out in downtown dives for years and built a reputation for its fierce live shows before issuing a groovy, grimy slab of garage-punk swagger called "People Get Ready" back in 2000. Although a major-label deal and follow-up album, "Electric Sweat," increased the band's profile, the Mooney Suzuki never matched the black-leather-and-chrome-studded glory of its debut. Unfortunately, "Have Mercy" doesn't break the Suzuki's streak of steadily diminishing returns. The energetic opener, "99%," built on a staccato guitar riff and partly purloined chorus from Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," is a promising start, but too much of the rest of the disc falls flat, a victim of overlong novelty numbers (at six minutes, "Good Ol' Alcohol" is painfully puerile) and trite, uninspired sing-alongs ("This Broke Heart of Mine"). Loud, boring, and utterly charmless? Not quite. But "Have Mercy" comes awfully close. [Jonathan Perry]
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
