Backyard Babies Albums (11)
'People Like People Like People Like Us'
Release Date 5/1/2006
Tracks 12
Label Century Media
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Mess Age: How Could I Be So Wrong'
Release Date 3/20/2006
Tracks 2
Label Sony / BMG Import
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What The Critics Say
Yes, there's an echo in here -- the Backyard Babies obviously wanted to stress the point when naming this raucous, unpolished live album Live Live in Paris. Recorded in the City of Light during the Swedish hard rockers' 2004 tour, the disc collects 16 uniformly turbocharged performances of fabulous album hits like "Earn the Crown," "The Clash," "Made Me Madman," "Star War," and "Minus Celsius," to name but a few. Frontman Nicke Borg enjoys a constant, witty, but succinct rapport throughout with La Maroquinere's paying customers, wasting few words where hip-shaking, neck-snapping, boot-kicking, electrifying music will more than suffice. And lead guitarist Dregen can always be counted to drive the quartet's instrumental assault with disciplined but exuberantly intuitive chops. Fans unfamiliar with the Backyard Babies may prefer to start their education with the studio-based Tinnitus collection, but there's no denying that Live Live in Paris, too, contains a track listing very worthy of a greatest-hits set. Either way, you can't go wrong or be too early where the Backyard Babies are concerned -- they are rock & roll. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Given America's rapturous response to Velvet Revolver, one can only surmise that hundreds upon thousands of mid-2000s hard rock fans were feeling starved for the late-'80s raucous brand of sleaze. Which makes it all the more baffling to figure out how, if this is the case, other champions of that style of music such as England's Wildhearts and Sweden's Backyard Babies can be continually ignored by these same fans. Velvet Revolver's simple star power is of course the easy answer for this conundrum (Americans' pathetic inability to accept foreign-born great music unless its baby-talked and spoon-fed them by MTV is the difficult one) and all one can do is hope that their major-label-blessed ascension paves the way to success for a few of these other equally deserving -- heck, who are we kidding...far more deserving -- foreign hard rockers. Released in 2005, Tinnitus is one opportunity to rectify this injustice, collecting 12 choice highlights from three of the Backyard Babies' uniformly strong studio albums into a U.S.-only greatest-hits set of unbelievably high quality. Expertly and diversely showcasing the Stockholm natives' never less than inspiring Cheap Trick-gone-Metallica sound (where heaviness, speed, melody, and hooks coexist in explosive perfection), bona fide classics such as "Star War," "Minus Celsius," and the reverential "The Clash" could teach American bands a thing or two about their roots. Opening the disc with one of the band's most commercial and atypically synth-enhanced singles, "Brand New Hate," is probably ideal for the circumstances -- but deeper immersion quickly unveils darker pleasures contained in songs like the scat-hateful "U.F.O. Romeo," the forlorn "Highlights" and "Colours," and the absolutely frenzied, Motörhead-would-kill-to-still-write-songs-like-this masterpiece "Made Me Madman." To sum it all up, if America's tattered and fast-fading rock & roll soul has any chance of salvation, this may well be one of its last chances -- grab it! [The digipack version of Tinnitus is made all the more irresistible by adding a bonus disc sampler of tracks by other label signings, including Nebula, Crash Kelly, the mighty Hellacopters, and even Hanoi Rocks.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
By the time the Backyard Babies had an album debut with Diesel and Power, they had already had a few years under their belts as a young and defiantly glam-influenced band called Tyrant, which then mutated into an early version of the Backyard Babies before starting to really pick things up. This great trawl through the vaults -- two discs-worth covering recordings from 1989 to 1992 -- sums up that time for those interested, showing that the whole Scandinavian garage sound of the '90s hardly came out of nowhere. Liner notes, presumably by the indefatigable Dregen himself, though it's not really clear, reference everyone from the Ramones and the Stooges to the Cult and Faster Pussycat, and plenty of others in between; a collage of influences that would all obviously come to bear later on. The author is perfectly and thoroughly without airs when it comes to talking about everything (best bit, about "Bad Boys" Spinal Tap. For real?), and it's that easygoing attitude towards the band's past which makes From Demos to Demons such a treat: just take it as it comes rather than as any sort of serious statement and you won't be disappointed. Certainly hearing the high school wannabe Iron Maiden/Mötley Crüe era efforts like "Murder" and "Darkness" (the latter with vocals that are pure Raunchy Young Lepers in sheer ridiculousness) is pure hilarity in the light of history. Plenty of the song titles say it all: "Down Down Down," "Suffer Hard," "Warriors of Glory," "Party Pussy," "No More School," and "Something to Swallow." Two videos are included as bonuses on the first disc, while the packaging, with scads and scads of photos and memorabilia packaged in a box laid out like a studio master tape container, provides the icing on the cake. About the only thing missing would be a testimonial from Bill Gazarri, but that's what happens when you grow up in Nassjo Sweden and can't get to the Sunset Strip. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
'Safety Pin & Leopard Skin'
Release Date 1/1/2002
Tracks 9
Label Cargo Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Backyard Babies are in a pickle: too punk to partake in the brief hair metal revival of the late '90s, they were likewise too glam to hitch a ride with the vaunted Scandinavian garage rock explosion of the early 2000s. In other words, they look like Mötley Crüe's nephews and/or Good Charlotte's uncles -- you pick. Along with the equally criminally overlooked Hellacopters, the band represents something of a missing link in this Scandinavian evolutionary chain, and with little hope of a happy ending in sight, all they can do is keep rockin' on their very solid third album, 2001's Making Enemies Is Good. And how much do Backyard Babies love to rock? Let them count the ways: "One-two-three...four!," they shout through cracking opener "I Love to Roll." The remaining material isn't quite as explicit, but the message remains untainted throughout, whether they're raging through the almost unbearably bubblegum title track, plodding through the somewhat aimless "Colours," or reaching for inspired moments of pop-tastic nirvana on incredible singles like "Star War" and "The Clash." Strangely, the band's versatility is arguably also their downfall, and it's only once the album is heard in its entirety that the sheer number of familiar sonic references begin to pile up rather uncomfortably, giving rise to the question: Just who are these guys anyway? "Heaven 2.9" is pure Wildhearts, for instance; "Too Tough to Make Friends" is too Social Distortion; and the string-laden "Painkiller" is too much like Dream Police-era Cheap Trick. This realization can't take away from the honest, hard-working excellence of Making Enemies Is Good, but it does advance the doubts about Backyard Babies' eventual long-term identity. Guess listeners will just have to wait and see. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
