Guitar Wolf - UFO Romantics

I once went to a Ramones tribute concert. It was at CBGBs, Joey and Marky showed up (it was right before Joey got sick), and everything was in place for a memorable night. I was right - sort of. 15 different bands each played a four song set of Ramones covers; give or take a few technical mishaps cutting some of the bands short, that's 60 songs...each using the same three chords. By the end of the evening I never wanted to hear a Ramones song again. You CAN have too much of a good thing. While at first, the thought of Guitar Wolf - a 50s-styled Japanese punk band modeled after the Ramones - sounds pretty damn cool. And on the first two tracks, they do. The feedback noise and mangled "wontoofreefaaah!" that kick off the jams exhilarate - briefly. After 13 nearly IDENTICAL versions, all with incomprehensible lyrics (save for the occasional "ufo," "jet," and best of all, "beer"), the novelty of a Hives-by-way-of-Sanrio punk band wanes. LOTS. You can't blame Guitar Wolf for trying though. Along with his bandmates Bass Wolf and Drums Wolf (I'm not kidding), they truly believe in the power of their punk-in-drublic rock abandon, and taken one-on-one, tracks like "Taxi Driver" and "Jett Beer" offer an amusing rush. However, brevity is the soul of wit, and over the course of a full LP (even with songs barely cracking the 2-and-a-half minute mark), even the best of Guitar Wolf's cross-cultural sonic attacks can seem a little tedious. [www.guitarwolf.net]