A lot of contenders have piled onto the contemporary R&B/soul train over in the last few years, some succeeding, some failing, and some just barely passing. Thankfully, this decade, the hopefuls looked back to proper '50s/'60s sounds and didn't take a cue from the Dirtbombs' passable Ultraglide In Black soul covers LP. Y'all might not remember but that LP inspired a handful of garage bands to go "soul." Really, tryna kick out some sweet soul through yer Marshall stack at full bore, well...you just can't. Anyway, this Australian group of swingers Clairy Browne & the Bangin' Rackettes play across the period—jump blues/R&B, uh...ska, and a bit of radio-friendly soul; they're good. It's almost funny, CB&tBR is so very anglo-fied "black," it's almost a cliché, I guess, 'cause they sound like they could'a gathered around obsessing over a handful of Ray Charles records in 1963, like every anglo-fied blue-eyed soul/R&B group did in 1963. Well, less the digi-processed crispness and effected bottom end, they could have stood to sound slightly over driven, raw...analog 'n' shit.

This track "Love Letter" is the single culled from the LP, Baby Caught The Bus, and it's good. Fair warning: the video for "Love Letter" is a bit stock, as is her Winehouse meet's TV's Flo "kiss my grits" fashion thing, but the single is worth hearing. Clairy is sassy and can broach that throat holler when needed.

So, obviously, she has a great voice and the band cooks; their shows look raucous, with any luck we'll get to see 'em soon. Now if they'd only press more 45s; they're a couple more A-side dancers tucked away on the LP!!