OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY - The Big Takeover

Until the band’s “discovery” last year by LITTLE STEVEN, OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY had toiled faithfully in the shadows for years, known mostly by underground pop cognoscenti. Which is a shame, really, as the Motor City quartet’s string of psychedelic rock/pop LPs has been quite fine. This late in the game, the band could be forgiven for coasting on its considerable talents, but instead Universal Malcontents may be its best album yet. There’s no conceptual thread here, no locus other than the desire to write and record excellent tunes. Leader/songsmith MATTHEW SMITH is more on form than ever before, whether on a cosmic blues rocker like “Outsider,” a shimmering psych popper like “Feels Like Shadows,” a glam-inflected choogler like “I Recognized Her” or a sardonic stomper like “It’s Not Rock N’ Roll (And I Don’t Like It).” Universal Malcontents is, I think, Outrageous Cherry’s most consistently engaging album, and that’s saying a lot. - Michael Toland / The Big Takeover

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY - Hyperbolium

The band’s ninth full-length offers up superbly crafted slices of pop-rock that are ready for radio of an earlier time, an era lamented in the aptly titled “It’s Not Rock ‘n’ Roll (And I Don’t Like It).” College DJ’s all over the world must surely be lining this up as the third part of a triptych that opens with Stones’ “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” and Rubinoos’ “Rock ‘n’ Roll is Dead.” Disappointment bred of a decade in the music business also threads through the lost-love song “This Song Belongs to Everyone,” and a general farewell to youth is painted as metaphorical dusk in “Feels Like Shadows.” The band stretches out to eight-minutes for the psychedelic guitar jam “Outsider,” and closes with a realization that fealty to the past may only retard one’s step into the future. There’s irony to be found in retro melodies accompanying lyrics like “you never bring me nothing new” or “your memories won’t make you wise / your memories are a thin disguise,” but with melodies as good as the originals, who really cares? - Hyperbolium

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY - All Music Guide

Nine albums in, and Outrageous Cherry still find ways of making their vintage-steeped music sound fresh on Universal Malcontents -- by exploring other classic sounds. Matthew Smith and crew know their rock history inside and out, and know how to evoke early to mid-'70s pop and rock atmosphere, from the album's warm, roomy sound to its double-tracked vocals, strutting guitars, handclaps, and piles of piano and organ. There are a couple of quintessential Outrageous Cherry moments of fuzzed-out garage pop with bittersweet melodies and smart lyrics, like the reverb-laden "I Wouldn't Treat My Enemies the Way You Treat Yourself" and the album closer "Memory," which compares memories to horror movies and once again proves this band is expert at putting a sugary, crunchy coating on sour feelings. The rest of Universal Malcontents, however, finds them casting farther afield. "I Recognized Her" borrows a bit of Sparks' and Roxy Music's synth-tinged glam, giving a sharp, sci-fi edge to Smith's always-witty songwriting. Meanwhile, "Anymore" dresses up its hooks in '70s AM pop balladry, another apt setting for Smith's way with song structure and wordplay ("Feels Like Shadows" is also a fine example); "The Song Belongs to Everyone" adds a bit of boogie to its cleverly crafted story of a songwriter compelled to create despite the perils of the music business and anonymity: "I want my 50 percent/Before it's all spent." "Get Out While You Can," a swampy rocker that conjures muggy Detroit summers, hits harder than any Outrageous Cherry songs in recent memory, providing a welcome reminder of just how diverse their sound can be. This is especially true of "Outsider," the lone epic among the rest of Universal Malcontents' classically proportioned two- and three-minute pop songs. Combining Mott the Hoople's good-natured ambling with the improvisations of bands like Amon Düül, the song feels like the sunny, jammy culmination of the excursions the band embarked on with Supernatural Equinox and The Book of Spectral Projections. At just ten songs long, Universal Malcontents' conciseness adds to its throwback feel, but its eclecticism and focus make it another solidly enjoyable album from a band that seems to have nothing but solidly enjoyable albums in its catalog. - Heather Phares / AMG