Really Really Happy

Its certainly good to know that Kim Shattuck and her partners in pop-punk, the Muffs, are still at it 11 years after dropping their first long-player (particularly since the sainted and not dissimilar Fastbacks have called it a career), and 2004s Really Really Happy shows that shes held on to the virtues that made her (and her band) lots of fun in the first place. Shattuck still has a great ear for guitar hooks, can play em with an admirable sense of chunky economy, and writes lyrics that blend an overgrown teenagers sense of snooty goofiness (or goofy snottiness) without shortchanging the relationship stuff thats usually the province of us grown-ups. Fine and dandy so far, but the albums drawbacks can seemingly be summed up in the following notes in the discs booklet: "Drums recorded at Swinghouse Studios. Everything else recorded in Kims kitchen." This would tend to suggest that most of Really Really Happy was recorded under "dont bother the neighbors" circumstances, and unfortunately it sounds like it -- most of these tracks just dont rock as hard or punch as deep as they need to, and they lack the propulsive live-sounding feel of the groups best records. Good songs, solid band, fun listening, but between you and me, Kim, if youre gonna cut the next Muffs album at home, maybe you should look into soundproofing the basement so you, bassist Ronnie Barnett, and drummer Roy McDonald can all crank it out at once. Trust me, if you do, I think well all be thanking ourselves afterward. ~ Mark Deming