Don't you miss the passionate, crunchy, southern folk-rock-garage-rock-indie-rock jangle of the late 80s and early 90s, when you could always count on some scrappy act from Athens or Chapel Hill to come out fighting with sturdy melodic hooks, a muscular rhythm section, and a tempo that was more cougar (as in Johnny) than dinosaur (as in Jr) - back before Columbus discovered Seattle, back when Billboard's mainstream and modern rock charts weren't clones of each other, when Michael Stipe still mumbled the words and the only thing you could count on in this crazy, mixed-up world of ours was that R.E.M. wouldn't publish a lyric sheet. Don't you miss drivin' 'n' cryin', Let's Active, The Connells, the dB's, the Archers of Loaf and Guadalcanal Diary? Of course you do. Which is really the only reason why you might want to go out and get yourself a copy of the Whigs' new album, the fun, but ultimately inconsequential Mission Control.

On their second album, this Athens, GA-based duo of multi-instrumentalist/singer Parker Gispert and drummer Julian Doro plays loud, tough, and earnest, exploding out of our speakers on the opening "Like a Vibration", a howl of 4/4 simple guitar fury and galloping surf-rock drums. Despite cover art that looks like it belongs on some Matador Records release circa 1996, there's nothing especially clever about what the Whigs do. There's nothing terribly distinctive about their sound either. Gifted with an ability to fashion songs in a number of different styles - be it the jangly, rhythmic dance-rock attack of "Production City" where Gispert channels Michael Hutchence every time he asks "How would it feel?", or the twinkly opening of "Sleep Sunshine" where he does his best Thom Yorke impression over dewy guitar arpeggios (think "No Surprises") - the band never really settles into an identity of their own.

But when the songs are good - and most of their songs really are no better or worse than "good" - it's hard to fault the band for their facelessness. In fact, that very facelessness may actually work in the band's favor. Even if "Production City" sounds like an INXS song (and it really does), it's better than a lot of actual INXS songs: its jaunty riffs are looser, a little more reckless, and the whole thing is far less concerned with flattering the voice of a supersexy frontman, giving the song (which, like most of the songs here, barely tops the three minute mark) plenty of room to groove. "I Never Want To Go Home" is fraught with generic indie yearning, but with its sing-along chorus and johnny-comes-marching-home-again snare drums, it's hard not to get swept up in it. Then again, the band's chameleonic tendencies can come off as calculated and forced. "Need You, Need You" is a frantic punk rock noise-fest that clearly has no business sitting just a couple taps of the skip button away from a woozily hallucinogenic ballad like "1000 Wives", while the gratuitous, late-in-the-disc appearance of a horn section on "I Got Ideas" and the sorta-epic title track feels more desperate than spectacular.

Mission Control could certainly use some focus, some critical editing, and a discernible point-of-view. Nevertheless, it's a record that sounds exciting every time I play it. The excitement may wane after about a half hour, right around the moment you realize that the Whigs are sort of ambitious. But you can always skip back to track one and feel it again.

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BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:

"Mission Control" by The Whigs
ATO Records
Released 1/22/08

Produced by Rob Schnapf
37 min.

SONGS: Like a Vibration - Production City - I Never Want to Go Home - Right Hand on My Heart - Sleep Sunshine - 1000 Wives - Hot Bed - Already Young - I Got Ideas - Need You Need You - Mission Control



Recommended: Yes