The Warlocks
Rise and Fall
Bomp! Records

The people at Bomp! Records have made it their mission to keep the best of the past alive. The label's website boasts of Stooges and garage rock records in their catalog before touting modern-day retro revivalists like Beachwood Sparks and the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

As may be a line item in every Bomp! contract, drone-rock collective the Warlocks work their own vein of hero worship. Their self-titled debut EP leaned so heavily toward the buzzsaw pop patented by the Jesus and Mary Chain that it played as a companion piece to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's recent record, seemingly a modern-day JAMC-inspired renaissance.

The EP's clever twist on an old formula involved running it through a four-guitar, two-drummer lineup that works a psychedelic jam band ethic. Witness! Songs longer than 10 minutes! Multiple tracks titled as jams! If the band's tunes weren't as ace as the Mary Chain's, the group's setup at least gives its members lots of room to rock.

Most of the songs on Rise and Fall are strong and draw on the muted melodic style of the Spacemen 3 family of bands, another Warlocks influence. The record also represents a progression in sound that diversifies the band's portfolio of influences. "House of Glass" is built from "Wild Horses" stoned country balladry and "No Expectations" slide bliss, but its spacey beauty renders it more than a Rolling Stones rerun. "Whips of Mercy" draws a charmingly low-key dazed feel from high-desert guitar and whispery '60s folk rock vocals. A Joy Division-derived bass pulse propels the otherwise shambling "Left and Right of the Moon," creating quite a contrast with the sturdy waltz of "Motorcycles," with its midrange guitar strums swaying under a fragile melody reminiscent of shoegazer also-rans Ride.

The inclusion of a cleaner re-recording of the EP's "Song for Nico" was a wise choice. As hard as it may be to connect the dots between the song's "you're killing my teardrop" chorus and the Velvets' enigmatic chanteuse, the final picture is that of a winning tune that manages to drone, pop and rock in turns, even if the Mary Chain imprint remains.

Unfortunately, Rise and Fall's instrumental jams are a mixed bag of fierce and flaccid that dulls the album's overall effect. The record kicks off encouragingly enough with "Jam of the Witches," a heavier sister to previously released "Jam of the Warlocks" that throws down a gauntlet to the attention-span impaired. A fair approximation of the Reid Brothers taking a hack at Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive," it chugs along for a mesmerizing 14 minutes.

On the other end of the spectrum is "Skull Death Drum Jam," a throwaway kit solo with some guitar squeal. The album-closing tandem of "Heavy Bomber" and "Laser Beam" is a live recording comprised of nearly 100 percent noodle. First the Warlocks play rock-band-as-sound-effect, followed by a section of guitar tuning, crowd chatter and wah-wah squiggles. Percussion eventually kicks into something resembling the laziest definition of a jam. The intent may have been to have listeners "come down" from the cumulative effect of the previous tracks, but the result is a momentum-killing bore.

It's easy to imagine that the crowded Warlocks lineup might crank out instrumentals potently in concert, but these numbers just don't translate on wax. Although the band escapes being the Cliffs Notes on three decades of drug-induced rock 'n roll by presenting melodic, interestingly produced songcraft, it still has more to learn before it's capable of putting together a consistent album that doesn't ultimately try the listener's patience.

— Wayne Lewis (capsighs@pacbell.net)