St Louis alt. rockers the Bottle Rockets have been championing the blue-collar cause for over two decades and show no signs of losing their zest. Indeed, South Broadway Athletic Club, their first album of new material in five years, has a revivalist feel.
They may not rock with the intensity they did 20 years ago but they still know how to rouse a crowd and singer Brian Henneman’s eye for detail has got sharper. So the simple pleasures of making your lover smile (Big Lotsa Love) or walking your dog (Dog) hint at something deeper. And Big Fat Nuthin’ makes chillin’ sound exhausting.
His Tom Petty-tinged voice and bursts of Rickenbacker guitar reinforce the familiar sound. Unfortunately he doesn’t always move with the times. The strongest song, Building Chryslers, is about a lazy slacker on the assembly line. Not too many of them around now in what remains of the American car industry.
