The third full-length by the Charms is a textbook example of why it's not a good idea to jump onto a bandwagon feet first. The Charms' first album, 2002's
Charmed, I'm Sure, was a smart, punchy set evenly split between
Blondie-style new wave irony and Nuggets-derived garage rock scruff. But the Charms were immediately adopted as scene mascots by Little Steven and his Underground Garage radio show, and the EP
So Pretty and second full-length Strange Magic dropped the cerebral cool -- and, unfortunately, rockin' Farfisa player and harmony singer Kat Kina -- in favor of a toughened-up sound and a more overtly sexualized persona from singer/songwriter Ellie Vee. By the time of
Pussycat, on which Vee has largely dropped her original singing voice in favor of a hoarse, shouty style that's far less appealing, the Charms are not much more than an amalgam of garage rock revival clichés, and Vee's lyrics and vocals are reduced to fanboy fantasy-stokers like "Rock and Roll Magazine" and "Dream," with little of the wit and heart of her earlier songs. It worked in the short run --
Pussycat was voted 2005's number one album by the listeners of Little Steven's Underground Garage -- but this album almost immediately sounded dated and contrived in a way that
Charmed, I'm Sure and
So Pretty still do not. Interestingly, it seems like the Charms themselves might have been aware of the album's flaws, because three songs -- "Talk Is Cheap," "Rock and Roll Magazine," and "Gimme That Shot" -- are presented at the album's end in bonus remixes by metal producer Bill Metoyer. Unlike the brittle, compressed mix provided by Toshi Yoshioka (
Regina Spektor, the
Strokes) on the album's 12 main tracks, these mixes sound considerably less processed and sterile, with more of a live edge that helps ameliorate the fact that the songs themselves still aren't actually up to the band's previous standards. So part of the blame can be placed on a bad choice of mix engineer, but overall,
Pussycat shows the Charms as potential victims of their own success. ~ Stewart Mason