On 2004's ALIVE & AMPLIFIED, the Mooney Suzuki play revivalist rock with plenty of blazing guitar riffs, pounding drums, and anthemic choruses tailor-designed for stadium sing-alongs. The record collections of this New York City quartet obviously contain plenty of platters by the Rolling Stones, the Stooges, Aerosmith, and early Kiss (the band's most obvious point of comparison). While this might sound like a recipe for cliche-ridden disaster, the Mooney Suzuki's clear love for the power of classic arena rock radiates out of every song, and gives new life to the old strum-and-jump formula.
Save a couple of tracks about the liberating power of rock (including the cowbell-banging title song), the tunes are all about getting down and dirty with the ladies (as the titles "New York Girls," "Loose 'n' Juicy," "Messin' in the Dressin' Room," and "Naked Lady" would indicate). The psychedelic cover art and Hammond organ-heavy "Sometimes Somethin'" gesture to the band's 1960s influences, and the production is undeniably contemporary, but the Mooney Suzuki's riff-driven boogie-rock is full-on retro '70s. ALIVE & AMPLIFIED makes you feel like you're riding in your friend's Trans Am circa 1978, en route to a Foghat concert, the wind blowing back your long, feathered hair.