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Brian Jonestown Massacre

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Charlie Carter

Brian Jonestown Massacre Who Killed Sgt Pepper (A Records)

Since Anton Newcombe cleaned up from his addictions his music has become turgid and only occasionally betrays in flashes the brilliance that marked his pre-cold turkey days.

Who Killed Sgt Pepper is the latest in a triptych of screechy, effects-laden albums too bogged down by drum machines and swampy production to allow the Newcombe genius to shine.

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It's not that the tracks here are so bad. They are very good. It's just that he's lost his psychedelic mojo and has embraced - dare I say this of a musician whose reputation is based on his ability to replicate the sounds of the 1960s - modern sounds. Someplace Else Unknown could be straight from Atlas Sounds' Logos CD. Not a bad thing, but just not very BJM.

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