(Dead Beat Records)

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Portland's The Weaklings crawl out of the wreckage of their own self-destruction long enough to fire off their best album to date, Rock 'N Roll Owes Me, available on vinyl though Dead Beat Record (CD on Wax Vaccine Records).

This raw and randy foursome owe a great debt to The Stooges and the New York Dolls on their previous efforts, all loaded with fast, angry punk rawk based around Chuck Berry riffs and Stiv-ism vocals. Yet on Rock 'n' Roll Owes Me, the band slows down a hair to offer some straight-up bar room rock 'n' roll ala AC/DC, Mott the Hoople and…well… The Stooges. But this more "Cock In My Pocket" Metallic KO sloppy-punk-boogie than Raw Power or Funhouse.

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Let's run it down, shall we?

"Losin' My Electricity" sounds like "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"-era Elton John if he snorted blow, picked up a guitar and went punk. "On With the Show" takes Gary Glitter's "Rock 'n' Roll Part Two" rhythm, adds some Bay City Rollers bubblegum to the chorus and siphons it all through an Iggy blender for glorious results. "Straight Flush," "Still Ain't Happening" and "Far Too Long" take the backseat boogie of Aussie's finest, tosses it up and gets it pregnant with their grimy Oregon seed. "No Lover," "Layin’ Low Drinkin'" and "Spray" are old school Weaklings three-chord punk, while "Fit For a King" could be a Dead Boys outtake. As if to drive that point home, they even cover the Lords of the New Church (Dead Boy Stiv Bators' post-DB band) ode to the New York Dolls, "Little Boys Play With Dolls." Can you guess what kind of albums are in these guys record collections yet?

If frontman Bradley Shaver -- he of the incredible broken glass voice and scars of broken glass down his chest -- doesn't kill himself first, The Weaklings will rock your world, fuck your girlfriend and destroy your house. Thank God there are still band like this around to remind us of when rock 'n' roll was dangerous…

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