New Jersey’s the Doughboys serve up another warm platter of rock ‘n’ roll following up 2008’s Is It Now? with Act Your Rage. The history of the band, which traces back to the mid-‘60s, forms the play on words for the album’s title, though it’s only their second. Best known nationally for lead singer Myke Scavone being the frontman of Ram Jam (“Black Betty”), the ‘boys have been making something of a comeback in the New Jersey area over the last two years, garnering the attention of Little Steven and WFUV DJs and a little publication called The Aquarian Weekly.
Act Your Rage contains the type of pub-filling rock that embraces all the most successful hooks and songwriting techniques of its generation, which is almost immune to critique without revealing some bizarre gripe for simple yet elegant rock songs. The Doughboys make no mistakes here, though even the tracks that come short of satisfaction (“Suck It Up”) are easily made fleeting by the smorgasbord of songs (16 tracks) on the album, including the Kinks’ “It’s Alright.”
Good for a smile.
In A Word: Reliable
