Papa Baloo - Must Be In Love

Hear The Track Here

What constitutes 'bass slappin, funky beats, original freshness and trippy guitar'? Well Papa Baloo if you go by the keywords on their Soundclick page but I'm not sure all that goes with what I know of Papa Baloo, at least judging from the two tracks I have reviewed already. Mind you, I apparently spent the whole of one review spouting about drugs but anyone who knows me knows I likes a good rant. While I would go along with the trippy guitar comment, the rest meh... The impression I have gathered so far is a decent, straight ahead rock bent but - to be honest - nothing that I found adventurous or interesting outside the box it started in. The last track I reviewed was Keep It dDown (July 2009) and I wrote 'It doesn't therefore say anything new to me, but I guess I am not the one this is aimed at'

My first impression of Must Be In Love reinforced that Rolling Stones feeling that came across most on Keep It dDown; a certain sloppiness that the Stones perfected if you know what I mean. However, as I discovered with prior Papa Baloo tracks, continued plays often paid off and it definitely does with Must Be In Love which, over time, emerges as quite a clever rock piece with some excellent, if shambolic, rock riffing. Certainly, forgiven its flaws, this is a very good rock song and one I think would benefit immensely from a slightly less - how do I put this - over the top vocal performance.

That wasn't the least of the problems, the sound overall is pretty awful, sound levels between different elements were jagged and - all told - it takes work to coax out what is good about it. As I say its a good song, delivered with a sing-sneer that was pioneered by punk musicians, although the vocal is either popping out of the mix or buried in it. Thinking about it, I suspect this has more to do rootswise with punk than rock, it has that sort of rough and ready charm. So, technical problems notwithstanding, this is a pretty good track that may grow on you in time.

Recommended proto-punk.