During their original ten-year run, Irish new wave combo
the Boomtown Rats drove a bevy of hit singles across the U.K. pop charts, painting seedy pictures of the urban underbelly with a blend of snarling punk energy and pop sophistication on songs like "Rat Trap" and "Up All Night." They even made some noise across the pond with the anthemic "I Don't Like Mondays." As the '80s wore on, however, their star began to fade as enigmatic frontman
Bob Geldof, became increasingly involved with humanitarian efforts and, following his organization of the massive 1985 Live Aid charity concerts,
the Rats eventually threw in the towel and disbanded a year later. They reunited as a part-time touring act in 2013 and in 2020, 36 years after their last release, make a rather unexpected return to the studio with their seventh album,
Citizens of Boomtown. Although keyboardist
Johnny Fingers and early-era guitarist
Gerry Cott are both absent,
the Rats of 2020 --
Geldof, guitarist
Garry Roberts, bassist
Pete Briquette, and drummer
Simon Crowe -- are all original members and each brings a surprising amount of energy to the project. After so lengthy a gap, it's hard to imagine what a modern-day version of
the Rats would sound like and to the band's credit, they don't spend a lot of time trying to recapture their early days. Instead,
Citizens of Boomtown explores various stylistic influences that occurred during the group's absence, most notably an unusual electronic dance influence. Grafting sizzling blues-rock guitar riffs onto pulsing techno beats, songs like "Get a Grip" and "The Boomtown Rats" come out of left field, yet have an odd vitality to them. More immediately accessible are the nostalgic glam throw-back "Trash Glam Baby" and the irresistibly charming "Here's a Postcard," the latter of which turns a sunny two-chord folk-rocker into a richly arranged harmonic gem. For his part,
Geldof swaggers and snarls with plenty of charisma and acerbic wit while the group's strong vocal presence recalls
the Rats of old. There is certainly some good material here and credit goes to the band for taking their reunion record somewhere unexpected. ~ Timothy Monger