60 Ft. Dolls' debut album
The Big 3 is an unfocused but frequently invigorating collection of punk-pop. While the group doesn't have the melodic exuberance of
Ash or the wild, otherworldly sense of pop style of their Welsh contemporaries
Super Furry Animals,
60 Ft. Dolls can rock very, very hard, bashing their chords out in a frenzy. Those three-chord romps are viscerally exciting, but the group is at their best when they slow the tempo down slightly and concentrate on writing songs as catchy as the
Jam-like single "Stay." Even with its inconsistent songs,
The Big 3 shows considerable promise, and it's refreshing to hear a young band in the late '90s rocking this hard with such little pretension. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine