Sahara Hotnights - Kiss and Tell
(RCA)
Like The Donnas before them, these Swedish twentysomethings’ major label debut (third overall) doesn’t lose any appreciable energy (read: sell out). It’s still a lightweight collection of top down, convertible-cruising summer music with its heart on its sleeve and its head in the clouds. The semi-autobiographical “Hot Night Crash” is a rowdy fist pumper with Maria Andersson’s voice demonstrating the occasional Chrissie Hynde snarl. “Empty Heart” is sticky, bubblegum pop of the Betty and Veronica variety with occasional forays into Jem and Josie & The Pussycats territory, although, like Joan Jett, Andersson tends to scream more than sing her lyrics.
I also liked the glammy headbanging of “Walk On The Wire,” which had me digging out my old Girlschool albums (always a good thing) and the snappy dual guitar attack between Andersson and Jennie Asplund elevates the catchy “Mind Over Matter” to one of the year’s finest singles. The kids’ll be humming this one in high school hallways all over the world.
The nasty “Nerves” features more blazing guitar solos and spitfire Stoogey swagger as the gals tear a page out of fellow countrymen The Hives’ playbook. But then they get all soft and cooey on The Go-Go’s-ish “Stay/Stay Away” and I just wanna wrap them up in my arms and give them a great big kiss. Awwww! Another killer single in the wings.
So, building on previous efforts, the gals combine their debut’s snotty, messy innocense with Jennie Bomb’s pastiche of pop confections, leaving the experiments behind for pure, unadulterated fun, proving that the third time’s a charm. With The Go-Go’s brilliant comeback apparently just a one-off and The Bangles’ reunion best forgotten, the Hotnights rival perhaps only The Donnas as the world’s best all-girl rock and roll band.
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