Labels: self released
Review by: Dangerous Jamie
Not having the best singer in the world is something that lots of bands can claim, none more so than Guantanamo Babes. Sounding something like Jello Biafra after a couple of cartons of duty free Rothmans, while unfortunate for the poor chaps surely red raw throat-hole, is not necessarily a bad thing. This particular brand of poppy punk, chucked in a blender with some up strokes and bluesy sax tones, plays well for its eight short tracks but fails to be immediately captivating, opting instead for instantly forgettable.
Most of the tracks are accomplished enough to make your toes tap and your head bob, but nothing reaches the anthemic heights of some of their genre contemporaries. It’s short too, the whole thing whizzes by in no time at all. The opening track is probably the best, kicking off proceedings with a bit of welly before settling back into a more comfortable position. I’m not saying the songs are bad, because they are definitely not. They are just a bit lacking in direction and in creativity, sounding like how I imagine early Voodoo Glow Skulls demos before they really honed their particular sound down to its best.
If this sort of vaguely political, bluesy punk is your particular poison then I wouldn’t think you will find too much wrong with this mini-album. The vocals are a talking point, destined to split opinions until such time as vocalist man gives up the ghost, but I think they are well suited and add some depth to what I would consider amnesia inducing music. The best thing about the album is the title, in the current climate who can argue with a statement “Less Mortgages, More Discos”, even if it is translated into Spanish for no good reason!