The Night Before the Day the Earth Stood Still

AMG Review of The Night Before the Day the Earth Stood Still

Mark Deming
All Music Guide

Mix equal parts of '60s garage rock and '70s punk rock, add a dollop of Stones-style raunch, and put a smart-ass genius in front of the vocal mic and you have the New Bomb Turks' formula, and studio album number six (not counting various compilations, live efforts, and EPs), The Night Before the Day the Earth Stood Still, doesn't exactly bring a wealth of innovation to their style and sound. On the other hand, if there was ever a working example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," it's the New Bomb Turks, and The Night Before the Day the Earth Stood Still proves that, nearly ten years on, they've still got the goods. This set doesn't blaze quite as hard as one-two punch of Destroy-Oh-Boy! and Information Highway Revisited, but for sheer drive it has the edge over the bunk of the Turks' Epitaph catalog. The songs are potent (especially "Hassle St.," "Leaving Town," and "Rat Feelings"), and the honk of guest saxophonist Pete Linzell adds the right punctuation just when it's needed. Besides, in a world where the Hives are being declared the world's greatest ock & roll band, it's nice to be reminded that the New Bomb Turks were doing pretty much the same thing first (though without the same enviable fashion sense), and The Night Before the Day the Earth Stood Still shows they're still in fighting shape.