Album Review: The Barettas – All Is Fair In Love And Rock & Roll

Onatrio’s The Barettas have been resurrected as a duo and are set to release their debut album at the end of January 2021, my first exposure to the band was the album’s lead single, the revamped version of ‘Touchè‘ that immediately struck a chord with me, the combination of just skittering drums and guitar might have initially captivated me, but then there’s the vocals of Katie Bulley, the most striking and enchanting rock ‘n roll vocal I’ve encountered since I was smitten by the pipes of Patrica Day of The Horrorpops over a decade ago. You might not know The Barettas but they’ve been around for the last decade or so, opening for the likes of The Diodes and New York Dolls and playing shows across North America, now resurrected as a duo they are finally unleashing their debut full length, “All Is Fair In Love And Rock & Roll“.

The opening track ‘Alley‘ is raw menacing garage punk, proving that The Barettas are no one trick pony, and if you needed convincing then the laid back late night charms of ‘Smoke Filled Baretta‘ should do the trick. The album shifts into a slicker style for ‘Dark Blue‘ which is followed by a straight up version of The Arctic Monkeys‘ ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor‘, the only track that feels slightly incongruous amongst the album’s twelve cuts. ‘Sidewalk Surfer‘ and ‘Black Sheep Daze‘, the flip side of the 2010 “7″” single, take the album back into The Barettas eclectic melting pot of garage, punk, indie and rock ‘n roll whilst the smouldering ‘Crooked Hearts‘ and ‘Chasing‘ tug at your heart strings before we hit ‘Touchè‘, the track whose charms drew me to the band. ‘Catman‘ is another glorious cut of their signature slick rock ‘n roll before they throttle down with ‘Quit Snakin’ My Waves‘, the album comes to an end with a gloriously sinister revved up version of Cher‘s ‘Bang Bang‘

This is the sound a band releasing everything they have on the shelf, and given how 2020 went, and 2021 is going so far, you can’t fault anyone for keeping themselves busy, there are new versions of songs from a decade ago, covers and new tracks which all happily co-habit on “All Is Fair In Love And Rock & Roll“. On their debut album The Barettas have laid down a marker with an album of stripped back rock ‘n roll that, depending on which track you are spinning, is underpinned by a combination of an undeniably punk attitude, a garage punk snarl, indie cool and at times almost calypso like rhythms. With “All Is Fair In Love And Rock & Roll” The Barettas have delivered a unique debut album that leaves you wanting more and wishing it hadn’t taken a decade to get to this point.