If the first Jeff The Brotherhood record, Heavy Days, was a glimpse into what remains of good and virtuous in rock ‘n’ roll, then We Are the Champions is the faux-bumptious statement that confirms this freakish young outfit’s absolute grasp on the multi-faceted wonder of the genre.
It all starts out with a thick wall of psychedelic sludge in Hey Friend, a sort of acid-drenched proto-Dinosaur Jr. locked in a garage for a weekend; senses suitably saturated, and you’re on the Devo-on-a-speedway delirium of Cool Out. After the proto-typical slacker rock in Bummer and axe-grinding adolescent innocence in Shredder, Diamond Way finds a hitherto unexplored path linking The Cure and dirty Nashville bar room rock. Endless Fire is as heavy as a West Coast ballad but without the masturbatory flavour, Ripper confronts your senses like Barry Hall asserting his dominance across the half-forward line and Mellow Out reminds us all that youth is a state of mind that we should all continue to strive for, even when the turgid reality of life seems overbearing.
What else is there to say? Plenty actually – Stay Up Late invokes the intellectual and musical rigour of The Ramones, Health And Strength pays homage to The Beatles’ Eastern spiritual dalliances and Wastoid Girl is dumb, simplistic and fucking brilliant. Jeff The Brotherhood are indeed champions.
Key Track: Mellow Out.
If You Like This, You’ll Like : scoffing a bowl of electric prunes in a garage .
In A Word : Freakish.
