Customer Reviews

Babies Are for Petting

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From the opening riff of "Look Out For Traffic", one might make the mistaken assumption that The Vue are just another "nu-garage" band. It only takes a few seconds for the band to dash that apart with the inclusion of a rather psychadelic-style riff into the song itself. Indeed much of the band's strength lies in a fusion of garage-punk, old-school blues-rock, and some psychadelia that isn't as noticeable as the other two, but it's still there. The title track, despite its name comes off as a more raucous get-drunk-at-bar-and-meet-strange-ladies-and-follow-them-back-to-their-place-"tipper gore"-all-night-and-sleep-all-day song. The live rendition of "Find Your Home" owes obvious influence to Led Zeppelin and the fifth track, "It Won't Last" could do any rocker proud. In fact if you ask me, the rest of it could be half-... covers of Puddle of Mudd songs and it would still be worth it just for the final track. This EP's flaws however would be that sometimes the instruments take center-stage over the vocals and the elements of the styles aren't perfectly combined yet.

San Francisco-based Vue has been slowly climbing the industry ranks since 1999 and a steady buzz has continued to follow them. After releasing two albums on Sub Pop, the band has graduated to the majors for its latest effort. Babies are for Petting is a short, attention-getting EP designed to prime the masses for a forthcoming full-length -- and it succeeds. With help from heavyweight producer Don Was (Not Was), the band plays bluesy-rawk a la the Stones' Exile on Main Street. At least that is the initial reference point, but after a few listens you are bound to hear the crunchy pop swagger of the Replacements as well. This sort of thing has been done a million times before, but Vue is one of the more capable bands to try it recently.

The first two tracks jumpstart this slab with snotty vocals, skuzzy twin-guitars and sing-along-in-the-car choruses. "Look Out For Traffic" has a crisp, punchy sound and Westerbergian guitar lines that beg to be played loud. Much like the Mats, Vue displays a sardonic wit with quips about the rock star life like "we don't have to worry about anything, because we know that it's just pretend." "Hey Hey Not In Here" combines the above ingredients with an irreverent bounce that waxes nostalgic for worn Chuck Taylors.

Unfortunately the EP missteps with the title track, which finds the band playing a set at the Black Crows' roadhouse and then trying to salvage the thing by inserting a bunch of spacey squiggles and ray guns toward the end. Or maybe the roadhouse crowd just turned the sound up on the Space Invaders game in the corner during this song. Thankfully the band comes back with a hair-raising, stripped-down live reading of "Find Your Home," from the Sub Pop album of the same name, and another new track, "It Won't Last" to make up for the detour.

So consider yourself forewarned: Vue stomps out the minimum blues with a healthy dose of confidence. If they can create a full-length that follows through on the promise laid out here, these bastards of young will be playing Main Street before we know it...