Take It from the Man

iTunes Review

Fans of the Brian Jonestown Massacre often regard 1996’s Take It from the Man as the band’s pièce de résistance. As expected, there’s plenty of ‘60s Stones worship going on — “Who?” borrows heavily from “She’s a Rainbow,” while “Caress” sounds like a little brother of “The Last Time,” and on the 11- minute version of “Straight Up and Down” they straight-up steal the woo-woos from “Sympathy for the Devil.” But for everything taken from Mick and Keith’s playbook, there’s the same amount of original ideas coming to glorious psychedelic fruition. “Vacuum Boots” is a rocking love song that opens with backwards guitar solos and a chorus melody so infectious; it could have come from any decade. “Monster” takes a stab at space-folk with acoustic 12-string, tambourines, delayed slide guitars and more reverb than the Carlsbad Caverns. The libidinous “Oh Lord” is bursting with snowballing garage-rock tension, while the brilliant “Cabin Fever” lets guitar player Matt Hollywood deliver some indie- rock gold as he muses on a madness that came from living in the attic of his own groupies’ home.