They do their best to sound sloppy, but the fact is that all three of these guys are pros, and on their debut album
the Revisionists' professionalism glimmers undeniably through the shaggy mess that they drape over their solid song structures and tight pop hooks. Guitarist and singer Sam Jones (director of the
Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart) has a pleasant regular-guy voice, and the lockstep rhythms laid down by bassist
Dan Lavery and drummer Kevin Shepard (both formerly of
Tonic) are like an iron frame that gives Jones the support he needs to sound as dissolute as he wants to. And he's not above pushing the boundaries at times; he's not going to win any chivalry points for the couplet "You make me sick/You are such a stupid bitch," for example. But what you notice more than anything else on this album are the hooks. "Fic-fic-fiction" is perfect straight-ahead pop & roll; "Universal" and "See You Around" carefully evoke
the Clash and maybe even
the Stooges at their best; and "Good and Bad" wouldn't sound at all out of place on some country singer's live set. There's apparently some social commentary in there someplace, but it's pretty easy to miss it. What you won't miss, again, are the hooks -- and it's the hooks that matter most. ~ Rick Anderson