This record dynamites the moss-covered castle walls of 2005's Black Sheep Boy to let in the glaring sun. Riddled with characters real and fake, with the relics of high culture and the crumpled up trash of low culture, The Stage Names is a cinemascopic take on the meaning of entertainment in the modern world. Reverberant with echoes of Motown snap and girl group pop, redolent with ripe whiffs of dirty rock'n'roll, shining with the shimmy of Bo Diddley, with the shimmer of the Velvets, with the swagger of the Faces, and with a glittery sprinkling of cheap perfume to disguise the stink, The Stage Names is a relentlessly paced and ruthlessly thrilling journey.
1 Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe
2 Unless It Kicks
3 Hand to Take Hold of the Scene
4 Savannah Smiles
5 Plus Ones
6 Girl in Port
7 You Can't Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man
8 Title Track
9 John Allyn Smith Sails