Box-O-Car
In the Future… on Mars!
Modern
Box-O-Car apparently never quite got over the Seventies. And why should they? Those were the days, when men proudly wore their make-up and glittery blouses on stage, and guitar solos still brought tears to every young kid’s eyes. In The Future• On Mars!, a 7-track EP follow-up to 2000’s Faster Than the Sound of Speed (ooh, “clever”), is the band’s sophomore release; another stab at up-and-about glam rock, this time with an added twist of new wave and pretty-boy punk. Song titles like “I Wanna Be A Girl” and “Pretty People Revolution” indicate their glammy ways, but are fueled with some anthemic testosterone chest-pounding as well, while “Smothered In Kisses” comes across like Mick Ronson-assisted Foo Fighters. The three final live tracks from 2001 are good Ziggy-fun, including a version of Brian Eno’s “The True Wheel,” in the shape of full-on, set-closing Spiders From Mars fury. Whatever these Chicagoans lack in originality and sincerity, they more than make up for with clever fun and energetic appeal, making In the Future • on Mars! an entertaining if rather inconsequential set.
Box-O-Car: http://www.box-o-car.com/
