BMG
36 years since their last album, The Boomtown Rats invite us to play Name That Tune. Trash Glam, Baby leans on Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie, and Sweet Thing’s no less nostalgic, again nodding to Bowie while rewriting The Troggs’ Wild Thing in the spirit of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Rock ‘N Roll Yé Yé glues together AC/DC and Joan Jett riffs before Bob Geldof converts it into a Knocking On Heaven’s Door tribute. Yet Monster Monkeys, which combines The Beatles’ and Primal Scream’s Come Togethers, and Get A Grip, whose heavy sloganeering suggests Sigue Sigue Sputnik covering the Stones, confront the modern day with programmed drums. Here’s A Postcard, nonetheless, is calmer, blithely pairing Bob Dylan’s jangle with Paul Simon’s delivery. It’s best, though, to overlook the grungey, bluesy She Said No’s locker room talk.