Customer Reviews

Ultraglide in Black

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Dirtbombs manage to combine rock 'n' roll with soul in a way so fantastic few bands could ever pull it off. Like everything the great Mick Collins has done, it proves there are still a few great pure rock 'n' roll bands out there. The album is a series of covers (with the exception of "Your Love Belongs Under a Rock") that match and sometimes manage to be better than the originals. The thing that made the New York Dolls and the Ramones so great makes Mick Collins great - he knows his rock 'n' roll history. I would give anything to be able to go through the man's record collection. He covers well known artists, but chooses more obscure tunes as opposed to their hits. If most bands where to cover Thin Lizzy, they'd choose "The Boys Are Back In Town" or "Jailbreak". Collins picks "Ode to a Black Man" (coincedentally the greatest song on the album). An original mix of two bassists, two drummers, and the great Collins on guitar and vocals.

I wonder if the guy from Dublin realizes that "Ultraglide In Black" is a covers album. Shouldn't he be complaining about this album's songwriting on the Thin Lizzy, Curtis Mayfield, and Stevie Wonder product pages?

This album is great. It's old time soul/R&B (back when R&B actually meant Rhythm and Blues, not watered down commercial hip-hop) with a modern punk rock edge. But as frontman Mick Collins points out, "It's NOT supposed to be garage punk. It's a louder, faster version of the O'Jays."

Mick Collins is the MAN! This guy could sing the phone book and make it sound good. His latest with the Dirtbombs is a real, honst-to-goodness soul record made up of mainly covers from his early heros. All of these tracks are served up with a helping of fuzz guitar that lets you know they are not messing around. There are a lot of other bands doing the whole soul cover version thing, but none of them are this good.

Mick Collins is without a doubt the best Rn'B/soul vocalist alive. It's amazing to me that this guy isn't making millions doing slick modern Rn'B with a voice like his. Instead, Mick fronts a number of the raunchiest garage rock outfits around. This new album is, appearantly, a tribute to those who influenced him as there are cover versions of Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, George Clinton and others. All songs have been suitably pumped up in the energy department and drenched in fuzz guitar, but this still sounds like a soul record. For Mick Collins it's obvious that Rn'B still stands for rhythm and blues. A classic!

This is a great concept, Soul and R&B played like garage rock and in the process inventing a new sub-genre, Garage Soul!! Not just anyone could pull this off though because not just anyone can sing raspy voiced soul over screaming guitars and driving drums. You need a special individual like Mick Collins, lead singer of The Dirtbombs. This is a very innovative album for a cover song disc. It is pulsating, throbbing rock that will put a stupid grin on your face and a cocky strut in your walk. Even when a song doesn't quite adapt to the rock idiom such as Marvin Gaye's dance classic "Got To Give It Up", which has it's keyboard riff transposed to electric guitar, it still works better than it should. Stevie Wonder's "Living For The City" adapts seamlessly to the rock treatment and my personal fave is Thin Lizzy's "Ode To A Black Man". This particular cut should have gotten airplay and would have turned these guys from cult sensations to Rock superstars overnight. Few songs grab me the way this one does when it comes stomping out of the speakers. I've been known to play this one as much as 8 times in a row. The first time I played this album, I said it was one of the best things I had heard in a long time. I think I will be saying that for quite some time. Rock n' soul haven't been this cozy together in a long, long time.

Whoa! This is what modern soul/R+B should be all about.The super soulful vocals and Del-vettes style fuzz guitar take garage rock to a new level. Most of the songs are covers of 60's and 70's soul songs, but The Dirtbombs super-charge these tunes and blast them into the future! Put this on and get the party started!

The state of rock music has oppressed us for too long. The revolution has begun and Detroit is the burgeoning capital. If you've felt a little disappointed with the lack of emotion and power in your radio dial (does anyone else still have a dial besides me?) and wondered what happened to the Roll of Rock & Roll, your answer is in this cd. The roll found a home in Detroit.

This band is amazing. Mick Collins will make you shake your hips like you were watching a Mick Jagger and James Brown duet! An album of obscure covers that makes you want to dance, move, shake, hell I even was so possessed by the music once that I jumped up and did the dishes. Certainly a rare occurence in my humble abode.

While you're at it, check out their friends the White Stripes. Although, I think they're getting to be a bit ubiquitous so you've probably already heard them.

Thanks for your time.

The Dirt Bombs-Ultraglide in Black ****

This is rock n' roll the way it should be played. Loud, raw, sleazy, and with no care for who cares. These Detroit garage rockers do it right, and Ultraglide in Black is their purest and best album.

'Chains Of Love' is one of the most honest songs ever recorded. And man does it groove. It's the perfect way to start off this killer album. 'Underdog' is just a what the f***? how is this so good!? While the cover of Stevie Wonders' 'Livin For The City' is soooo bad that you can't help but to groove along to it and then you realize he is vocalizing in Spanish. 'Kung Fu' shouldn't work but does. But the sleazed up cover of Marvin Gaye's 'Got To Give It Up' is just so perfect it makes you question the original.

The Dirtbombs were the real deal, it's too bad their no longer together. Ultraglide in Black is THE album to check out.

I've been a fan of all Mick Collins' bands, but this album has to be the best thing he's ever done. From start to finish, a white-hot r&b/garage punk fusion like no other. Yeah, it's all covers (save one-- 'Your Love Lies Under a Rock'), but these songs are redone brilliantly. I can't imagine anyone listening to this and not wanting to crank up the volume and shake their...

The White Stripes are nothing compared to anything Mick Collins has ever done! This is true raw rock from the heart, not some kids trying to be part of a seen they missed, this stuff has been around for along time finely some record executive decided to buy in on it and bam you get the White Stripes and The Strokes.
Sure history repeats itself but some of us are willing to trudge thru a lot of junk to find something real. The Dirtbombs are real, there not worried about how many CD's they sell or if there video makes it on MTV(upchucking while I say it). They make (or at least I hope) because its the kind of music they want to here. Buy it and buy Horndogfest(nothing like this one but completely great in a hole different way) because these are the people who deserve your money!