Their sense of songcraft has improved as well, in fact, this is probably their most accessible album to date. "Weapon of Choice", "All You Do is Talk" and "Need Some Air" are the albums best tracks. If your looking to get into this band then this is the album to get as they span their entire career through this one album.   Full text...

BRMC revs up musical growth.  Full text...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club deliver their new album Baby 81 in suitably emphatic style, replacing the rootsy, acoustic sound of their previous album Howl with a powerful, guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll sound that’s more in keeping with their earlier sound.  Full text...

During the last album, time couldn't save their souls. Here and now, they can't wait for time to save themselves. Welcome back BRMC.  Full text...

Baby 81 settles the band's bluesy side with its flings through JAMC-worship, trotting out blues riffs through a sea of grimy, dark atmospheres, sleazy guitar tones and nods toward psychedelia that only beef up the band's dangerous vibe as the Club brings its disparate back catalog into focus.  Full text...

BRMC’s Baby 81 Hits Hard and Misses Hard… but Hits Harder!  Full text...

Whether Baby 81 is seen as a return to form or an interesting diversion is open to interpretation, but one thing that's for sure is that this record provides insurmountable evidence that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club should not be written off just yet.  Full text...

Heavy on riffs and predictably low on laughs, Took Out a Loan and Weapon of Choice are aggressive takes on Love Burns, whilst Abbey Road-era Beatles are the inspiration for the soft-focus psychedelia of Window and Killing the Light. But while this is BRMC at their best, consistency is still their biggest enemy and after the nine-minute opus American X not only is their new lust for life exhausted, anyone listening is too.   Full text...

The trio still leave plenty of sticks around with which to be beaten. The influence of Jesus and Mary Chain and Beggars Banquet-era Stones looms large, but they are hardly alone in being derivative these days.  Full text...

If you wanted to make an effective argument in favor of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's career, musical relativism would be the best place to start. There's not much doubt, especially after listening to Baby 81, as to what BRMC does, nor could it be ignored that they do it particularly well. The band's four albums have overtly displayed the band's method of well-worn rock symbology adorned with modern flair and presented as variations on a common theme.  Full text...

Baby 81 (named after the 81st baby hospitalised after the 2004 tsunami, who was claimed by nine sets of parents) harks back to BRMC's earlier work (Jago has now returned, too); the only problem is that their earlier work was largely too samey to begin with. Most of Baby 81 is tired and predictable fare - grinding, scuzzy, bluesy rock 'n' roll all held together by Hayes' languorous drawl.  Full text...