Album Review: '77 by Nude Beach

On their third album, Nude Beach are gradually dialing back the garage punk side of their musical personality and transforming themselves into a good ol' power pop band. And that's no insult, even if you happen to like garage punk: on 77, Nude Beach deliver 18 songs full of hooks, energy, and smarts, and numbers like "Can't Get Enough" and "I Can't Keep the Tears from Falling," which suggest this band could have given Dwight Twilley or Cheap Trick a run for their money back in the day. Though 77 has a fistful of first-class rockers on hand, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Chuck Betz also brings along a few fine midtempo numbers where he puts his heart on his sleeve, and the thoughtful tone and mournful mood of "Used to It" and "Geoffrey's Tune" show Betz is aiming for something more than just another bunch of songs about the joys of cars and girls.

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1977 is the year of punk’s genesis, but it also endures as a signifier of authenticity brandished by listeners wishing for a return to those halcyon days of leather jackets, sneered upper lips, Sid Vicious on the street, and disco on the outs. Anyone who’s palled around an underground venue as a young adult might recall, with some reluctance, groups of uncouth youths self-described as 77ers looking to cause trouble, or at the very least, reaffirm all that’s dirty and fun about true punx living. (Like binge drinking, or knife crime.

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Brooklyn trio Nude Beach's third album closes with a harmony-charged ballad called "If We Only Had the Time" – and you can't help but feel the band might actually be lamenting the fact that it didn't have room to fit in even more material. At 18 tracks and 68 minutes, 77 initially gives the impression that some songs should've been 86'ed. But spend time exploring this overflowing double album, and new pleasures keep jumping out: the Byrds-y "I'm Not Like You," the power-pop treasure "Can't Get Enough," the Tom Petty-in-a-garage-ish "I Can't Keep the Tears From Falling" and many others.

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Brooklyn’s Nude Beach have a new record out on Tuesday called 77. The significance of the album’s title is not totally clear. Although 77 is a double album, its contents do not add up to 77 minutes of music (but it does come close, with all of its eighteen songs clocking in at just under 70 minutes in total). More likely is the possibility that the album is called 77 in reference to the year in which this band appears to have centered their sound.

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