THE BOSS MARTIANS
Making The Rounds (MuSick)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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This is WHO?!? The BOSS Martians?!! To quote Eddie Murphy, "GET the fuck outta here!!" The Boss Martians play surf, right? Speed picking, reverb tanks, cowabunga and all that? This is rock and freakin' roll, with distorted guitars punching you right in the puss and awesome vocals by... let's see, who is it... EVAN FOSTER??! Okay, so I guess this is The Boss Martians, and I suppose I shouldn't be this surprised. I've interviewed Evan and I know he was never married to surf. The guy can play any style of music and he loves it all, and of course he and fellow Martian Nick Contento have a little side project known as Mystery Action involving garage rock, but THIS... This is another kind of rock. This hits like something from the hard side of the mid-70s, after Nugent and Hagar showed us how to burn but before Foreigner pissed on the coals. The best thing about Making The Rounds is that the hooks are razor sharp and always involve power in a way that gets your blood pressure into the danger zone. You know, the funny thing is that my only problem with the early Martian albums was the occasional vocal track because Evan Foster's voice was so reserved I found it a bit dull. I can't find any resemblance between this Evan Foster and that Evan Foster. Or this Boss Martians and that Boss Martians. I'm not going to get too hung up on it, though. I'm too busy office-moshing to "AMX" to get nostalgic for "XKE."

© 2002 - DJ Johnson