Division Of Laura Lee - 97-99

What makes sense when a band makes it "big" and sells a lot of records? You try and ride the wave by releasing something else quickly for the kids to eat up. Usually this follow-up release contains old demos (eg Nirvana's Incesticide), and this new release by Division of Laura Lee (DOLL) is no exception. It just feels, at first glance, that its a money-making, cash-cow scheme by a record label to make some a quick buck off a growing name. Personally, I think that sucks, especially if the band's older stuff kinda... you know... sucks. Armed with this opinion, I tried out 97-99, DOLL's collection of older recordings. What even made me not like it even more than before was that it was by Lovitt Records, not the Black Heart label that released DOLL's Black City. The first listen through further cemented my thoughts on DOLL; they're more like Fugazi, The Make Up, or Jawbox then they are like their Swedish counterparts The Hives or The (International) Noise Conspiracy. All the garage-rock references that tie them to The Hives are undeserved. This album has that really gritty, lo-fi sound to it. Where the record falls flat is within the actual songs. "Stop! Go!", "Stereotype", and "44" are good tracks that display the band's tight organization. However, the rest of the songs are swimming in mediocrity. The lead singer's plaintive wails get repetitive. The almost uniform sound throughout the record makes it just a decent album. In other words, this sounds like the band was only warming up for a better release, which came with Black City; at least with that release they had some definite stand-out tracks -- because on 97-99 there aren't any. The strange thing I noticed about this album was that the first track is from 1999 and each successive track turns the calendar back, until the final track from 1997 hits. This record operates in the exact way you should approach this release. If you like DOLL and you want to peek into their career and early recordings, go for it. If you're looking to get introduced to the band, skip this one for now and see if Black City does the trick for you first. Then, work backwards to 97-99. [www.divisionoflauralee.com]