Bye Bye Love CD - reviews

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Now Wave
I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Why? Because there's very little I can say about Ruth's Hat's first CD besides the fact that it's a truly GREAT pop-rock-n-roll recording! If you dug the band's early singles (which certainly WERE quite digable), you will absolutely ADORE "Bye Bye Love"!!!!!! This fab American/Canadian outfit has stepped up to the plate and slammed the ball out of the park! As far as fun, frenzied, sugary rock and roll goes, this is a PERFECT TEN on the NOW WAVE scale!  Ruth's Hat can best be described as the Buddy Hollys of punk rock. These fellows have taken the Budster's classic pop-n-roll formula and updated it for the age of poppy punk. The band comes to the table with all the essential weapons: infectious melodies, killer choruses, delightfully layered harmonies, funny lyrics, big-time production (a major label-quality job from the folks at Sonic Iguana), rocking riffs, and a beat that will have you shaking your bad self all over the dance floor and/or your bedroom!!! Yum! This is the tastiest ear candy imaginable, and songs like "Why?", "Baywatch Nights", "Somora Laura", and "I Don't Care About You Anymore" would be MONSTER HITS in a world where pop radio was worth a half a damn! Such fun! Such energy! This is an absolute BLAST! Those of you who are opposed to the idea of having a GOOD TIME will probably detest this CD. So be it! Not everyone can have a good time in this rotten world of ours!  But if you DO like to have fun, this CD will get you there….in a hurry! Rave on!
Ruth's Hat- "Bye Bye Love"
File Under: Punky pop and roll
Check This Out If You Dig: Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Beatnik Termites, Kung Fu Monkeys, Sweet Baby, Beach Boys, Ramones, The Proms
In A Word: Delicious!

Room Magazine #92
After the first listen, the debut album from London band Ruth's Hat is reminiscent of a punier version of the Barenaked Ladies goofy shit.  But, as Bye Bye Love plays along, it becomes clear that Ruth's Hat has their own particular style.  While it is still an adolescent pop-punk piece of work, the band has fused different forms of rock in interesting ways.  Each song has an evident 1950s rock influence delivered in a punk fashion.  In some ways, the songs pay homage to artists such as Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, or the Beach Boys.  The lyrics certainly reflect the fact that Ruth's Hat is a teenage boy rock band.  Song titles suggest this:  "Baywatch Nights", "Ain't Drinking no Light (Beer)", or "When I Saw You at the Bar".  Still, the boys are redeemed for taking the chance to explore and utilize past rocks sounds and styles.  Clearly, Ruth's Hat and Bye Bye Love offer punk rock not meant to be taken seriously and this is what makes it pop oriented.  And their sound is apparently catching on - after winning a local battle of the bands, Ruth's Hat managed to get on the local stage at this summer's Vans Warped Tour in Pontiac. - T.K.

Larry Livermore
Someone just stopped by here and gave me "Bye Bye Love."  Even if there is a fairly blatant Green Day-ism slipped into "When I Think About You," the record is original and derivative in just the right ways.  These guys are right up there with the Kung Fu Monkeys, and I hope that doesn't get me in anybody's bad graces. Canadians rock, and Michiganders are practically honorary Canadians, so maybe that's the secret of this band's success.  I predict a bright future to supplement and augment an already glowing present.

Shredding Paper #8
I don't know what the hell this is, but I sure like it.   I guess pop punk would be the closest description, but there are touches of 80s garage, surf punk, 60s Merseybeat, and even some country, all mixed together.  The fact that this Canadian (some of the best pop punkers are) band takes all these styles and combines them (sometimes into a single song) tells that you they need to be taken seriously.   Well, perhaps with a large helping of frat mentality.   Lots of exceedingly sharp harmonies and guitar crashing make this frantic yet danceable.   Don't look for deep meaning and meaningful topics, just plain fun.  (RBF)

 
Mutant Renegade/Chickenfish
This CD consist of 17 melodic '50s sounding, slightly cow-punk tunes. With only a few songs over two minutes long, this CD goes by quick. The more I listen to this CD, the more I hear the '50s in the sound structure, however the lyrics are modern with my faves being "Ain't Drinkin' No Light (Beer)"" and "(Still) Cooler Than You".

Maximum Rock N Roll
What can I say about RUTH'S HAT at this point?   I  love their wussed out harmony drenched pop punk sound!   Geek Rock is the new SEX. (BM)

Caustic Truths, Issue #74
Resistance is waning. First the Chick Magnets, then Nerf Herder, now this...must fight...against...punk...pop! Arrrgh!!! But seriously folks, these boys have their hearts in the right place: 50's style bubblegum with crunchy punk riffs. You can do a hell of a lot worse (see Chick Magnets). !!! Jack Link

Hit List (Vol. 2, #3)
Ruth's Hat is a fun pop punk band with good harmonies and catchy tunes aplenty.  They've mastered the art of pop songs that get in there, do their job, and then get out in under two minutes (sometimes under one minute!).   Highly recommended for fans of the sugar-coated punk set. (JC)

Go Metric #12
I really enjoy this CD but must confess that Ruth's Hat's charms once eluded me.   Once I saw them live, however, it all fell into place - the Sloan brother's harmonies, the matching bowling shirts, the band's being comprised of two Americans and three Canadians (should they add another Canadian, they'll be 4/6 Canadian and have sufficient Canadian content to qualify for perks galore from the Canadian government) (there must have been some way to convey that without using the word "Canadian" four times) and yeah, they're "nice guys with bad luck" punk pop.   Though a bit long at 17 songs, this remains one of the best Mutant Pop releases.

Be Nice To Mommy
Italian:Dopo una serie di 7" (fra i quali un bellissimo split con i nostri Retarded), i Ruth's Hat approdano al cd prodotto dalla Mutant Pop.  Diciassette tracce, compresa una cover dei Beatles ("Please Please Me"), di onestissimo pop-punk, come sempre farcito a base di storie di grandi devute e di amori falliti.  Niente di nuovo sotto il sole, ma abbastanza divernte da giustificarne l'acquisto. (il Guru)
English Translation:After one 7" (comparing this wonderful disc with the Retarded split), Ruth's Hat approaches the quality of Mutant Pop.  Seventeen tracks, including one cover of the Beatles "Please Please Me", one of the highest forms of pop-punk, is often used as the bases for stories of noble love and a false lover.  There is nothing new under the sun, but there is enough enjoyment to justify buying this CD.  (il Guru)

Music Dish Industry Journal / The Big Takeover
Weird, but this reminds me of some sort of combination of the Dickies - especially the vocals - and the Beach Boys. The music's full of slamming punk rock guitar power chords, the drum kit's got that oh-so-familiar metronome Charlie Brown beat that permeates the punk rock world, but the band occasionally breaks into a capella harmonizing that's actually very nice and very unexpected. The songs are very danceable, if you're into that sort of thing.  The song "25" even features what sounds like an upright bass, making for a real get yer hodown goin' type of sound. All in all, though, it's the band's enthusiasm for what they're playing that really makes this record fun to listen to - not a mopey song anywhere on the album.

Hectic World Magazine
Ruth's Hat is a pop/punk band from Michigan.  I've been hearing about this band for a number of years in zines like Uprising! and Etch, but I don't think I've ever heard them before.  I might have caught a minute or two of their set on the Warped Tour local stage, but I might be remembering incorrectly.  Anyway, this is cool.  It reminds me of the Teen Idols and Beatnik Termites mixed into one, with a touch of 1950's style pop.  Very nice!  And what a great label Mutant Pop is.  This month they'll be celebrating 6 years of putting out great bands like Dillinger Four, Sicko, and Moral Crux.

Uprising #9
It's tough to give an unbiased review of one of my favorite bands.  Ruth's Hat, a Canadian/Detroit based pop-punk band is one of the hardest working bands that I have ever run across.  And all of their hard work has finally paid off landing them a spot in the Mutant Pop family.  Bye Bye Love is their first full length release on Mutant Pop Records and I'm sure that it won't be their last.  It was recorded at Sonic Iguana and it sounds spectacular.  To sum it up, if you've never heard Ruth's Hat, imagine 50's rock n' roll punked out and all jazzed up with doo wop style harmonizing, hand claps, plenty of songs about girls, hooks, grabs and lots of ooooh's and ahhh's.  It's catchy, it's fun, and you can drink beer to it.  The CD features some old stuff and some new stuff along with a Beatles cover.  This band is a must for all of you who grew up jamming out to the oldies with the folks.

Exclaim Magazine
These border crossing bandits (two members from Detroit, MI, and three from London, ON) take a stab at that '50s rock'n'roll sound. They have the innocence, back-up vocals and rolling guitar riffs that fit the generation, but that time is over and changing music from re-hashed '50s cover band means more than adding some punky riffs. The '50s were a great era to draw influences from, but please, just influences. Successful bands such like Danko Jones, Social Distortion and even the Stray Cats have a harder, dirtier and meaner side. Anyone trying to get their '50s rock'n'roll fix won't find it in this suburban newbie band. Ruth's Hat is more like West Side Story meets Rancid. But let's not be so hard on them. I bet they are darn good fun to watch at your high school dance.  Cindy Mielke - July 7th 2000

Spank
Peppy pop harmonies galore with sticky sweet vocals that insert a whole lot of hook.  Light and hyper tunes that made me think this is what Pansy Division might sound like if they were hetero.   (Doug)

The Stanford Daily - March 1, 2001
<< Ruth’s Hat definitely incorporates a fair number of influences into its traditional pop punk sound — surf punk, ’50s pop, garage rock, the aforementioned country >>  
<<If all you ever feed your ears with is commercial radio “punk,” give this a listen and see what unproduced fun sounds like. For fans of the genre, Ruth’s Hat’s “Bye Bye Love” is good, but it won’t blow your mind.>>

Ox Fanzine
A Mutant Pop release like there more typically could not be: pop-punk with quite a big pop.  With their polished singing acrobatics they do not remind insignificantly of their label buddies The Proms and with their Ami-Middle-Class-Kid Visagen they also see from as cloned or just from an underground Pop-Punk Kid Fabrik Arisen.  It is sung about girl, girl,television, (light) beer and girl.  What remains to me there still to say is good plate (record). (Stefan)