Smoke and mirrors can hide a million sins.
It's only been a few years but it seems like a lifetime since the new rock revolution early in this millennium. The Datsuns were at the forefront of this movement and as the Kiwi boys shimmied on stage with Marcie from the Von Bondies it seemed as though they were set for domination but after a fairly well received debut album, things haven't gone too well and 'Smoke And Mirrors' perhaps sees the band having a final crack at the mainstream.
Of course, The Datsuns haven't really changed, its not as if their debut album was pushing the boundaries of new music, nope, what you see is what you get and the new album follows a similar path. There may be some instances where they try to change but at the heart of it all is a dirty rock behemoth.
The problem is that although The Datsuns haven't changed, time and society has. The dirty scuzz of a Led Zeppelin stomp isn't what the kids are wanting these days and The Datsuns are finding themselves victim to fickle fashion. 'System Overload' is a case in point being that it is very similar to 'Harmonic Generator' but it lacks the same spark or feeling of relative freshness, it sounds like a band unsure of how to act and trying to rehash the glories that worked before. This nowadays is admirable but usually there's a few more years between acts trying to rekindle their earlier fire.
Its not to say the album doesn't change gear at times, with 'Waiting For Your Time To Come' turning down the bluster and letting a keyboard drone power the song along, actually letting Dolf sing for a change and it works well. Unfortunately, this song leads straight into 'Stuck Here For Days', a previous limited release single which was written directly from the Jimmy Page book of slide guitar. Given that John Paul Jones produced their second album, its not as if the band is attempting to hide their influences but on a do-or-die record such as this, it just seems lazy to be pulling off an attempt like this.
When it works on songs like 'Maximum Heartbreak', which not only provides the album title but an infectious rock n roll boogie that the New York Dolls may have spat out in their prime, its still joyous and its easy to see why The Datsuns were quite revered for a spell. Unlike The Hives or Jet, there seemed more of a soul to The Datsuns, they never seemed as arrogant or as sleazy as the rest of the rocking revival acts and when they perform well, its great to see.
Sadly, theres too much that's all been done before and done much better, even the jumping on the Gospel tinge, as in 'All Aboard' but this has been done from The Stones to Primal Scream but also far more recently by the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, who found themselves in the exact same spot The Datsuns do now. Again, its not a bad song but it just reeks of grabbing onto any cliché they can.
Fair play to The Datsuns, they were feted and adored for doing one thing and now it seems they are being shunned for doing the exact same thing. As your parents will tell you, sometimes life isn't fair but if you liked The Datsuns back in the day, you still will today, you just might not feel as proud to shout it from the rooftops as you did back then.