Various Artists:
" New Blood: The New Rock N Roll Vol. 2"
(Artrocker)

Forget "Rock Revival" and all the other bogus names that lazy music journalists have attached to almost any band with a beat and fuzzy guitars over the last year. From the earliest days of rock and roll, garage bands have always lurked on the periphery of popular music. Despite a few surprising forays into the public eye, virtually every band in the genre has toiled in total anonymity. Does anyone outside of diehard record collectors remember Cuby and the Blizzards or any act ever signed to Bomp! Records?

So when the middling Strokes somehow blew the lid off of this hidden scene, the record industry rushed in, desperate to give the public more of what it wanted after decades of apathy on the part of almost everyone. Too embarrassed to admit that they'd been missing out for years, the music media could only act like this was something fresh that they'd just now uncovered for the rest of us. Hence the "new" in this record's title. More than a little insulting for those of us who have been in the know for a lot longer.

Of course, the point of it all isn't to get into some meaningless debate over who was there first. The only thing that should matter is the music. One of the pleasant side affects of the recent swing in tastes has been that some long standing bands (like the Hives, included in this set) have gained a heretofore undreamed of level of worldwide popularity. It might be only now that some people are hearing real rock music for the first time in their lives. Sometimes quality really does win out.

The bands on "New Blood" are every bit spirited and aggressive as one might think. Youth and hormones run amok on disc always make for a listenable collection of garage sounds.

The most noticeable shortcoming of the set is that the consistently thick sound of these modern bands can lead to listener burnout. The 22 songs tend to run together well before the halfway point. A more sonically varied set might have done more to hold interest of the non-fanatic.

The second flaw of the disc is the lack of galvanizing tunes. None of the marquee names on the bill (Hives, International Noise Conspiracy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) deliver their A-list material. Only the tunes by Love As Laughter, Modey Lemon and the Parkinsons really rise to the occasion. Not bad, just not spectacular. The lack of the kind of monster singles that can make garage rock such a rush makes me hesitant to enthusiastically recommend this disc. Still, it is far from being the worst representation of this genre.

Those seeking an introduction to recent garage might be better advised to pick up the Hives' excellent import compilation "Your New Favorite Band" or track down almost anything by the Mono Men or the Lyres.

-Chris Fowler