The Raveonettes

Chain Gang of Love

January 03, 2008

By Mr. Marlowe

**** / ****

Released 2003

Recorded entirely in B flat major and channeling everything from My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Velvet Underground to Dick Dale and The Ronettes, The Raveonettes’ second full-length album, Chain Gang of Love, is in a class all its own: pure genius aural bliss noise rockabilly. Otherworldly, cinematic, thoughtful, and completely unique while at the same time extremely familiar, Chain Gang of Love treads very different ground than anything walking the walk of the genre mash-up world of the new millennium. Blazing a path no one has yet been able to follow this album is a breath of fresh air and simply amazing.

The Raveonettes are Sun Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, and the Danish duo take the cliché sounds of decades gone by, tightly fit them into their melodic, feedback obsessed, B flat major to create one of the boldest, most unique, and brilliant sounds of the ‘00s. They scratch nails upon the blackboard with Little Animal, rollick with That Great Love Sound, and break your heart with The Love Gang all the while male/female harmonizing with sugary sweet, not-as-innocent as they sound intentions. Then the duo changes the pace as they sway on Remember, shimmy on Heartbreak Stroll, and close the show on an in-the-moment nostalgic wave with New York Was Great. In the process the dynamic duo squeeze every last drop of majesty from their beloved B flat major pulling the plug just before things get redundant with most songs cutting out before the 2 to 3 minute mark. But that’s not all The Raveonettes have up their sleeve. Love Can Destroy Everything is a heart-wrenching ballad with echoing, country style guitars, and what can only be described as an electronic beeping countdown sound. Throw in some persistent yet restrained feedback jostling for attention with the lush harmonizing and what you get is melodic genius. As a whole body of work, Chain Gang of Love is an astounding riff on several musical genres and a cinematic tribute to the almighty notion of three chords and the truth.

Like a youthful, leather clad Marlon Brando riding into some small California town on his motorbike, upsetting the neighbors, breaking the young girls’ hearts, and then jetting out to the Pacific seashore in search of his next adventure, that is Chain Gang of Love’s brilliant purpose. And like a Brando immortal trek, these tunes rough you up, steal your heart, and then linger with you forever. The words, the music, the feeling: all classic yet thoroughly modern. So what more can I write? The only way to understand is to jump on board the Chain Gang of Love, yourself; it certainly is a glorious trip, indeed.

Best Songs: That Great Love Sound, Little Animal, Love Can Destroy Everything, The Love Gang