L7 ARE THE MODERN DEFINITION of a band that's more than the sum of its parts.
For sheer indefatigable attitude, courage, humour- one may employ the wildly
inappropriate adjective of balls here- the band piss on just about anything else
currently living in the living in the glitz and glam of LA.
Still, with grunge long gone and the group an each-way bet on
record at their best, L7 found themselves with plenty to prove in the making
of this 5th album. Hungry for Stink was sloppy (even by their standards) and
poorly recieved, and was followed by the departure of bassist and co-writer
Jennifer Finch, who seemed to embody the guts and soul of the band.
But The Beauty Process gets over the line with a series of cruedly effective
sledgehammer blows: "Drama", "Off the Wagon" and "The Masses Are Asses" (a bunt
ripsnorter) are all along L7's virtues, and as trashy as they sound, they also
improve on each listen. Another plus is the production of Rob Cavallo- he cleans up
the slop without buffing up the sound to the artificial shine that Butch Vig gave
Bricks Are HEAVY.
As usual, there are a couple of bombs. "Me, Myself and I" is the most
interesting: it's done on an acoustic slide guitar. For L7, its experimental
but not their strong suit. They're a band made to rock out. like the Ramones
or Kiss (the two have more in common than usually thought).
And for the most part, The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum rocks like a beast.
-ANDREW STAFFORD
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