BARBE-Q-BARBIES – ALL OVER YOU – ALBUM REVIEW

When it comes to the Barbe-Q-Barbies it’s all about the T & A. No, not that T & A! Titanic riffs and an Arsenal of hooks, you dirty minded little buggers! Okay. So judging by their promo shots this isn’t technically true and I could give you 5 good reasons for liking this album if you’re a male of the species, but let’s forget about that for the moment and attempt to concentrate on the music…

Barbe-Q-Barbies’ (I still can’t get over just how bad a name that is…) debut full length, All Over You, is best listened to in small batches of three or four songs at a time rather than as a whole album. Purely because it can get quite tedious being nothing more than a collection of generic rock tracks that could do with a bit more grit and a little more sleaze. Female vocals in rock like this don’t have the intensity of a man screaming in falsetto and overall the level of musicianship is pretty average. Personally I like my lead solos a little more aggravated and my downstroke riffs packed with some venomous bite.

All Over You is an album that has to be taken at face value; it’s not trying to be anything new or inventive, it’s girls with guitars trying to rock out to the best of their ability. There are some decent tracks, some notable choruses, but they never attempt to stray from their Blues Rock roots, making everything very one dimensional. Also, they’d have gotten away with their cover of The Sweet’s ‘Wig –Wam Bam’ much better if they hadn’t stripped it of its glam (one of the main parts of its appeal) and replaced it with a straighter Ramones feel.

All in all, BBQBB’s (is that even how you abbreviate it?) will probably remain buried behind my Backyard Babies collection for most of the year, but is still perfectly good enough to dust down for the occasional blast with the top down on a sunny day (if we ever get one).

Track listing

1.Spell
2.New Direction
3.Wig-Wam Bam
4.Twisted Little Sister
5.Aggression
6.My Salvation
7.Rockstar
8.Don’t Look At Me
9.Dedication For A Friend
10.Escort
11.All Over You
12.Rock’n'Roll