For the past few years, my pal George Makovic has told me that You Am I is the best rock band on the planet. It’s easy enough to be skeptical when someone says a band recalls the best of the Replacements, Stones, and Kinks, but George has great taste — and besides, we met in a work bathroom in 1997 when he heard me utter the phrase “power pop.” But You Am I are Australian and their records don’t have the best distribution over here, so I never got around to checking them out…
….until recently, when I came across three of their ’90s records used. Holy cow. I don’t fall in love easy, but I am deeply in love with this band. Love at first listen. I dunno if they’re the best rock band on the planet, but they’re certainly in the team photo. #4 Record (from 1998, the title is a nod to Big Star) is my favorite of the bunch. Too many reviews say that a record “swaggers,” but this one really does — it swaggers, stomps, and shoots right at you from the opening chords. “Junk” opens with a stinging riff that Keef would be proud of, and “The Cream & The Crock” is the best rip on music business stupidity since the ‘Mats “I Don’t Know.” The band gets 1000 bonus cool rock points for subtly changing the chorus chant of “Rumble” from “R-A-D-I-O” to “Ronnie James D-I-O.”
Hourly Daily, where singer/songwriter Tim Rogers is more Davies than Westerberg, is my second-fave of the three. The highlight is the title track, an absolutely heartbreaking song about a mother whose 14-year-old has joined a skinhead gang: “He’s the splitting image and the oldest of two/Now what kind of mess have you gone and gotten yourself into?” Yeah, brilliant. “Trike” is a harmonica-driven romp about a boy who drives through the suburbs keying cars. What’s not to like? Hi Fi Way is my least fave of the three by virtue of lesser songwriting, but it’s growing on me. George tells me Rogers’ solo record, What Rhymes With Cars & Girls is the next to pick up, followed by Deliverance.
It’s so rare to find a band that has the perfect balance of rock, swagger (there’s that word again), intelligence, and that classic rock and roll brothers-in-arms us-against-the-world vibe. You Am I has it in spades. I love this band. Their website is under reconstruction, but a fan’s site is much better than most bands’ official sites. You’ll find scads of live MP3s if you want to check them out for free.
Thanks, George.