Confusion Au Go Go

After regressing from the creative height of their second album, Dayglo, Love Battery finally released an album worthy of their promise. Bringing back to the fore their shimmering psychedelic pop, their reduced commercial prospects ignited a fire beneath the band judging from the playing and energy manifested on the album. The addition of Dan Peters (Mudhoney) on drums definitely tightens the screws, and the reinvigorated rhythm section provides the perfect foundation for guitarist Kevin Whitworth's inspired flights of fancy, including, as on Dayglo, some of the best slide guitar work in alternative rock. This is a remarkably solid album, with not a throwaway track in the bunch. The band mixes it up between slower, thoughtful anthems ("Punks Want Rights," "Corporate Memo"); roaring, soaring, punk-fueled raves ("Snipe Hunt," "Cute One"); and rich psychedelic pop excursions ("Faithfull," "Confusion Au GoGo"). Even new directions are well-rendered, as evidenced by the appropriately bluesy "Colorblind," "Guilty of Everything," a slow-burn number riding a Bo Diddley beat, and "Monkey Brain," which incorporates harmonica into its acid-addled thrall. Ron Nine's vocals are more focused than ever, and all the songs are actually about something. If this album had been released in 1993 as their follow-up to Dayglo, it'd be on the tips of many lips rather than the answer to the sadly unasked question: Where are they now? ~ Chris Parker