On their second album CHILD SUPPORT have pared down to a three piece and left behind their garage/punk sound for a more mature sound. There’s a stamp of later-period BEATLES experimental pop all over this but It’s not obnoxious like some pop bands. Still a few hard guitar numbers but mostly it’s relaxed, well thought-out pop.
One raunchy LINK WRAY-ish tune, one world beat-ish tune a la the BEATLES “She Said,” one ballad and one college FM-sounding instrumental. For a band that can rock, they sure seem shy to do it on vinyl, opting instead for a commercial sound.
When last we reviewed CHILD SUPPORT, we weren’t sure what direction they’d head musically. I’m still not sure; this is a pretty mixed bag of poppish-punk, new wave, experimentation, pop-rock, etc. Lyrics are above par in theme and intelligence, but this record will probably only appeal to the more open-minded or dance-oriented (not one and the same) folks.
Poppy rock-cum-punk. Sometimes it clicks well, as in the great garage punk title track, but more often it leans too much towards commerciality. It’ll be interesting to see which direction they more in.
