Album Review: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat + Bone

The first thing that must be said is that after eight years it's great to have the Blues Explosion back. It's a reunion especially worth celebrating given just how Blues Explosion-y Meat + Bone sounds. Time has not blemished them. In fact, was the press release to state that this was a collection of recordings forever feared lost due to a studio fire in 1995, it would be entirely believable. The chemistry is still very much intact, unrestricted and bloody loud.

Their blueprint for a brand of primitive rock'n'roll bordering on noise rock – that's since been sanitised into slightly more chart friendly prescriptions by the likes of The Black Keys and various Jack White projects – has been assertively reclaimed, as the infectious chanting, scattershot drums, the odd James Brown style yelp and endless riffs are all reactivated. But while their vision has remained unerringly faithful, nothing here trumps their finest moments of the past. Boot Cut is the remarkably similar offspring to 1994's Bellbottoms that's not quite good enough to follow in Daddy's footsteps. And like so many of fellow rock'n'roll revisionists The Cramps later albums, the energy seems to dissipate in the second half. That said, the likes of Bear Trap and Zimgar smolder with an understated, yet compelling malevolence.

Not quite the prodigal triumph, but it's hard to think of any other band that could've come closer to rediscovering the animal core of pure rock basics. Welcome back.