From 2000, it's fun and greasy and made for rockin'

The Racketeers
Mad for the Racket
(Track Records)
File under “formerly”. What do you get when you cobble together a gang of uglies like Wayne Kramer (MC5), Brian James (Damned, Lords of the New Church), Stewart Copeland (Police), Duff McKagan (Guns 'n' Roses, Neurotic Outsiders) and Clem Burke (Blondie)? Well, a mixed bag of delights and turds. The album sounds about like you would imagine this crew would...guitar heavy, sometimes sloppy and mostly pretty great. James and Kramer have split the songwriting duties and guitar chores throughout. Kramer of course comes up the winner in the solo guitar category edging out James’ sometimes muddled fretplay. Kramer ups the brainy thug ante by using his song time to contiinue his chastisement of any agency of conservatism that falls into his nasty purview. Check out "Czar of Poisonville" and "Prisoner of Hope" for examples. James, more often than not, is an old school schwing rocker, flashing his guitar and attitude at any feathered femme that comes to mind. There are throwaway tracks to be sure, just like in the old days. Kramer and James balance each others’ gnarlier tendencies and in the end this is simply low-slung bully rawk at it’s best. The recording is superb and is made to be played loud. Thanks to the folks at Track Records for keeping these players in the mix. It would be mad to miss this racket.

Jeff Monk

MONk 2009 view - Well Brother Wayne is still around and personally I am thankful for that. He has the unerring ability to maintain his relevance after all these years and his rejuvenation of the DTK/MC5 juggernaut a few years ago proved that the old guys still had it. Wayne travels all over the US making music with some pretty cool and still relevant political rockers. The work he does in this regard makes him much more than "ex-MC5-er" brother Wayne Kramer. I spoke to Wayne (interview ran in Stylus mag in 2001) a week after 9-11 and he had some fairly cogent thoughts on what had happened and perhaps why it happened. The guy is no dummy ex-rockstar. Not sure if he supports any of the conspiracy theories so Wayne, if you read this...let's discuss. Remember, I remain unemployed as of this writing, and would love to talk, or skype or sumthin. Kick out the jams motherfuckers!!
Collector's Note: this album came out in 2 versions. Apparently after Track released it as "The Racketeers" - Mad for the Racket (TRK1004CD) someone realized there was another band with the same name. The band became "Mad for The Racket" and the album name became "The Racketeers" when it was released on Wayne's own Muscletone imprint in 2001. Any questions?