Anybody who was frustrated by the utter falsity behind the recent garage rock revival can relate to author Neal Pollack’s debut album. Meant as an accompaniment to his latest novel of the same name, Never Mind The Pollacks is a punk-comedy album that takes pot shots at the recent crop of Stooges-Stones-Velvets rip-offs. But unlike Tenacious D’s ingenious satires of metal and prog-rock, Pollack’s album is musically uneven, and only funny in small spurts. The opening cut, “New York City,” is stupidly hilarious, and the punk-poetry track “I Wipe My Ass On Your Novel” begs to be dedicated to pretentious writers everywhere. These bright spots are marred by ham-handed, Weird Al-like tributes to The Kinks, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols – these tracks make The Hives look creative. Hence, Never Mind The Pollacks is a humorous concept, suffering from lackluster execution.
Appeared in the November 2003 issue of Rockpile magazine.