On album number four, Kentucky rockers
the Glasspack strike a midpoint between the '60s-obsessed garage rock revivalists and the '70s-obsessed likes of
Wolfmother and
Jet. Boogie is the operative word all over the genially lecherous
Dirty Women, which is filled with the kind of walking-pace riffs that bands perform with their heads down and nodding in unison: think
Status Quo or even
Foghat. But
the Glasspack cut the plodding tendencies of '70s boogie with a double dose of Nuggets-style snot rock on tracks like "Fastback" and "Fire in the Trailer Park." So the operative album to compare
Dirty Women to is
the Flamin' Groovies' career high point, Teenage Head: it's not nearly as good, but it has a similar blend of cock rock swagger and British Invasion-derived hooks. That is, until the climactic "Louisiana Strawberry," a full-tilt boogie jam that slogs on endlessly for an interminable 11 and a half minutes, which is particularly ironic since even at a tight two minutes 30, it would be one of the album's weaker tunes. Aside from that dull misstep,
Dirty Women rocks mightily and unpretentiously, and who could ask for anything more? ~ Stewart Mason