*Black Rebel Motorcycle Club * explain in the press release that their forthcoming album Howl, from which this single is taken, represents a bit of a departure for the band. The explanation is that, having thrown everything they possibly could into their last record, they couldn't think of a way to take rock'n'roll forward. So their next album will mainly be featuring country, blues, folk, soul, r'n'b and pop.

Hmmm. Well, I suppose there're only so many ways to rip off The Jesus and Mary Chain. But when looking for another legacy to plunder they could always have chosen that of another rock'n'roll band, rather than the ill-favoured Bob Dylan/Bon Jovi hybrid for which they seem to have gone. BRMC have always been something of a dumb band, but at least they used to be big and dumb. Now they're merely dumb, and listening to this record in all its ill-conceived New Direction antiglory is just really, really embarrassing.