The Barbaras

Admittedly I've been waiting for The Barbaras' record since the Memphis group released their "Summertime Road" single in 2008. The band, often clad in garish flair, had a reputation for blending the garage punk native to their hometown with a falsetto lent 60's pop that fit like the charming bowtied, bespectacled oddball at a late night party fueled by dirty 30's of Busch and Icehouse. Though rumors of an album initially swarmed, they dissolved when two members (Billy Hayes and Stephen Pope) left to form the backbone of Jay Reatard's touring band. In the wake of their collapse former members picked up into the more refined Magic Kids, and in fact an early version of their "Superball" graces this collection. But where the Kids were slick and filled with a Specter-vision wall of sound, the Barbaras are the ones that got away. A scrappy one-single live juggernaut that wound up almost slipping away forever.

When Pope and Hayes jettisoned themselves from Reatard's band in favor of Nathan Williams' Wavves, Jay threatened to burn the tapes he'd been harboring (that he'd recorded over the years) and it seemed to all involved that The Barbaras were all but vanished in that promise. However, it seems that Jay also had a soft spot for these recordings as they survived and were found among the tapes in his house and are now seeing light. Still scrappy, still boozily tie-open torch bearers and still a long lost part of Memphis' history. This isn't an album in the true sense that I'd anticipated. Its a snapshot. Its The Barbaras unfiltered but never unblemished. Its also well worth the wait.

Listen:

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