Redd Kross - Beyond The Door

Bubblegum pop pranksters Redd Kross, led by the androgynous McDonald brothers (America’s answer to Gene Loves Jezebel’s Aston twins) are back with another eclectic collection of snap-happy party music dipping their paisley-painted toenails into their typical brew of power pop, punk, glitter, bubblegum and various other rock and roll offspring. For over 40 years (since performing at a friend’s eighth-grade graduation party), Jeff and Steven have spearheaded a revolving door of musicians that at one time or another included The Long Ryders’ Sid Griffen, Japanese legends Shonen Knife, Susan Cowsill, Runaway Cherie Currie, Three O’Clock’s Michael Quercio, Germs/Nirvana/Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, and Bangle Vicki Peterson. They even cajoled Partridge Family actor Danny Bonaduce to lend his tonsils to their insane Tater Totz project. So they have a lot of friends, even though this is technically just their tenth album (including the Tater Totz releases) and first in seven years.

Starting appropriately with ‘The Party’, a stomping Kiss-meets-Cheap Trick slice of glammy power pop with Beatleisms and guitars whaling from every direction, Beyond The Door’s tracks are short and sweet (11 tracks in just over half an hour). ‘Fighting’ resides somewhere between ‘Helter Skelter’ freneticism and a nail gun to the skull, and the title track is a fist-pumping shout-along that’s just missing the Kiss pyrotechnics to really set the place on fire.

The album tends to peter out by the time we reach Side 2 with just too much generic MOR pop/rock (‘What’s A Boy To Do’, ‘Fantastico Roberto’, the flat, uninspired ‘Punk II’), but the wonderful tongue-in-cheek Mott tribute (‘Jone Hoople) strangleholds you in a Mott/Cheap Trick-meets-Steppenwolf vice grip that proves they haven’t lost their senses of humour or their sleeve-wearing influences, and the band seem to be having fun throughout. I just wish they had better tunes to work with.