The Von Bondies - Pawn Shoppe Heart

1 of 1

Not an album you'll be trading in

Sire - 2004 - 40 minutes

An incident involving Jack White and Von Bondies frontman Jason Stollsteimer has heaped plenty of attention on this band, but it would be a shame if something that happened off-this-record got in the way of the credit the four piece deserve for what's on it.

'Pawn Shoppe Heart' begins - desperately or brilliantly, depending on your point of view - with a song that sounds very like The Sweet's 'Blockbuster' and thereafter redeems itself/just keeps getting better with wallops of to-the-point rock. Stollsteimer can sound a bit stagey when tries the dragged-out blues of 'Mairead', but there are sparks when he, bassist Carrie Smith, guitarist Marcie Bolen and star drummer Don Blum charge up the choruses on 'C'mon C'mon', 'Not That Social' and 'Crawl Through the Darkness'.

Not the brilliant collection some have claimed but well over halfway to greatness. And definitely not an album you'll be trading in after a month.

Harry Guerin

Tracklisting: No Regrets - Broken Man - C'mon C'mon - Tell Me What You See - Been Swank - Mairead - Not That Social - Crawl Through the Darkness - The Fever - Right of Way - Poison Ivy - Pawn Shoppe Heart