The Blake Babies
God Bless the Blake Babies
(Zoë Records)
Hurrah. It's 1990 all over again. It's cool to like jingle-jangle indie rock, or was it still
called alternative then? The Blake Babies are back with a new record -- their first in (gulp) 10 years. Oh,
not much has happened since then. Juliana has had a successful solo career and too, too coyly
cavorted with a Lemonhead. John had critical acclaim, without the attendant sales of course,
with Antenna, a band Freda also played in. Plus she went and got married and had kids. Where
does the time go? Listening to Hatfield's voice, nowhere. She sounds the same and it's a voice that some have a
pretty strong reaction to. So, if she wasn't your cup of tea, she probably still won't be. I'm
not sure I hear 10 years' worth of more experience in the songs, but they're solid to great,
especially Hatfield's duet with Evan Dando on "Brain Damage," a tune co-written by Dando and
where-did-he-go wunderkind Ben Lee. I find the best songs on God Bless are the Hatfield/Strohm
co-written numbers, particularly the album's bookends "Disappear" and "On." I don't expect this
to reignite any kind of mini indie-pop retro revolution (not when you can be the next Radiohead),
but nostalgia isn't just a mental roadtrip.
Rating: 7
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