The Brian Jonestown Massacre's obsession with
the Rolling Stones continues unabated on the brilliant
Take It From the Man!; where the group resurrected
psychedelic-era excesses on the previous
Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request, here they jump further back in time to
the Stones' mid-'60s period, with even more superlative results. From the opening
"Vacuum Boots" onward,
Take It From the Man! is gritty, swaggering
R&B-influenced
rock, delivered with remarkable assurance and attitude; singer
Anton Newcombe is half madman and half shaman, and he commands each delirious moment with absolute mastery, emerging not so much a disciple of
Mick Jagger but as a serious threat to the throne. Tracks like
"Who?," "(David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six," and the epic finale,
"Straight up and Down," are simply amazing, evoking
rock's golden age without ever disintegrating into slavish devotion -- clearly,
the BJM is a group that believes in killing their idols, and their intensity begs the question: just who is the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band again? ~ Jason Ankeny
