WEEKEND VIDEO
“C’mon C’mon” |
March 13, 2004:
Once championed by (and now feuding with) Jack White of the White Stripes, the Detroit garage-rock scenesters the Von Bondies apparently had to leave town to get a toehold in the mainstream. The band enlisted big-time producer Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads fame and recorded most of its major-label debut in Sausalito. Pawn Shoppe Heart‘s subsequent uptown sheen doesn’t erase the grit and grime that set the Bondies apart from rock’s emo wimps and nu-metal bores. Exuberant first single “C’mon C’mon,“ the runaway standout, is radio catnip. Glam rocker “No Regrets” and the punkish “Not That Social,” with vocals from bassist Carrie Smith, also have magnetic pull. While lackluster lyrics and timid arrangements tend to upset momentum, the quartet’s raw fusion of soul and punk seldom drifts off course.