The Forty-Fives – High Life High Volume

With the last few years’ resurgence of dirty ’60s garage-rock, it’s easy to shove The Forty-Fives in the spankin’ new carport next to Jet and Kings of Leon. But these Atlanta boys—along with fellow Georgians, The Woggles—have been grinding out the jams for years. With their latest, The Forty-Fives have taken their gritty bar-band sound and polished it off for High Life High Volume, even daring to drag a few tunes to the nicer side of the rock ’n’ roll tracks by incorporating the Flying Burrito Brothers’ sweet country-western and soul. But “Superpill” rides through like a Chopper, filled with snappy handclaps and the down-and-dirty guitar of Bryan G. Malone. And a luscious taste of southern white-boy R&B a la Stevie Ray Vaughn pummels the eardrums in “Daddy Rolling Stone,” where Malone’s vocals are really put to work, climbing to ecstatic wails and diving to low soulful croons.