Super Group

Fresh and funny, this is among the best Shonen Knife's pieces. It's so wonderful that band is able to record such great songs on the 28th year of its existence. Maybe it's not as irresistably great as "Burning Farm" or "Pretty Little Baka Guy", but it have more fun than any of the last Green Day's outputs.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Shonen Knife is officially a trio again! The new lineup with Naoko, Etsuko, and bassist Ritsuko (Denki Candy) sounds killer- Ritsuko's bass has an old-school, almost Motown-like sound, and her style fits in very well. (On the song TIME WARP, support bassist Hatsue plays, and her style is busier and punchier- still very good, but different.) Naoko is in fine rockin' form, and Etsuko plays her heart out. Needless to say, the ladies all look super kawaii in the CD photos! All of the songs are outstanding; for my money, Naoko is still one of the most underrated songwriters in Rock. She is very adept at writing catchy tunes that dance around in your head forever. One such song on SUPER GROUP is DEER BISCUITS, which is a Neil Young-ish country-type song, rather like WONDER LAND, but cuter. It would not be a SK album without animal and food songs, so SLUG and BBQ party fit that bill well; along with MUDDY BUBBLES HELL and NA NA NA, these are my favorites this time out. But, again, I love all of these songs, and I would hope that Sir Paul approves of the JET cover, as he should. After nearly three decades, Shonen Knife are still giving fans what they always have: powerful Pop-Rock that makes you smile. Why they are not more successful in the USA is one of the music world's most perplexing mysteries.

Which is a GOOD thing in these crazy times. After a couple of years of members coming and going, Shonen Knife's settled down to permanent members; Naoko -still slamming away the powerchords on lead guitar and vocals, Etsuko -a rocket on drums, and newcomer Ritsuko -a big suprise on bass. This makes for a versatile, dynamic and powerful rhythm section. BTW, the title song refers to all the groups that the band looks up to and still gets a thrill from. The songs are all pure Shonen Knife, except the last one, a cover of Wings' hit "Jets". I was wondering just how they were going to do with Jets (not one of my favorites from the '70s), but it left a BIG smile on my face just after the first few bars. Not many things do these days to this old geezer (51 years). If you like Shonen Knife, throw a BBQ Party on a sunny day, put "Super Group" on the stereo and smile with your friends. Shonen Knife is my "Super Group". SHONEN KNIFE FOREVER!