album of the week: 3.1

The Birthday

STAR BLOWS

Universal Japan (2010)

why you'll love it: possibly the best classic rock album of this generation

why you'll hate it: Cheesy English lyrics, no good if you hate long songs

I usually write these reviews a few days beforehand and give it a few proofreads; but since today is my birthday, I could not pass this theme opportunity up. So please forgive me for being even more amateurish than usual.

This album is fucking awesome. There. It may not mean a lot coming from such a big Chiba Yusuke fan as myself, but I've been blown away by this album with every listen. This is the fourth album by The Birthday. I think Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (same singer and drummer) was one of the best punk bands in the world - but, Rosso (another Yusuke band) never quite lived up, and neither have any albums by The Birthday, (despite them being very good - Rollers Romantics especially). I've got to say, with STAR BLOWS, they've managed to step outside the shadow of TMGE. I'm not saying they're as good, but they've certainly become something memorable in their own way.

There is a challenge at the beginning of this album. The first 15 seconds are quite an eye-roller. I'm not gonna lie. I even audibly went "uh-oh" when the first song started. The Birthday has always at least once per album oversteped their Western classic rock bounds, and create something that sounds like a fucking beer commercial. That's always been a problem. This time it only lasts for a moment, not an entire song. While the opening track starts out rough, it had won me over by halfway in, and I didn't stop bobbing my head throughout the entire hour+ album.

That's another great feature, over a full hour of rock. The shortest song on here is just over four and a half minutes. The songs are packed with guitar amazing solos. They all take their time to grow and become overwhelming. There are so many killer tracks that span over all of the band's strong points it's as if they'll never need to release a greatest hits album. This is it. It's the ultimate The Birthday album.

If you're not down with classic rock, this will be a meaningless album to you; otherwise, this is looking to be one of the best of 2010. Just go easy on it when you dive into that first song.