Back In the Day, 2001

Ace & the Ragers

Steal Your Girlfriend

(Pin Up Records)

A disc bursting with the spiritedness of college-age youth, one packed wall-to-wall with swinging Rock'n'Roll fun, should never be forgotten. But an online search this writer conducted prior to putting pen to paper turned up scant results; in fact, no site offers audio clips of all tracks, most of which are jubilantly boisterous to the point of jumping from their digital circumstance and enlivening listeners' own.

Fortunately, in the present author's possession is a copy purchased when crisp.

The disc raves with freshness perhaps only possible when salad days are in session. Among its attributes is communication of that freewheeling essence. And to hear is to be uplifted.

Compressed here is as much fun as can be stored on a CD. It is loud, stormy, and frantically alive with anything-goes party recklessness. All that remain after its conclusion are empty bottles, broken furniture, and gleeful recollections.

(In an affecting passage, "College Girl's" vulnerable protagonist offers supplication: "College Girl, why you gotta be so smart?...I'm really trying to win your heart...I can't have any fun, when you're so smart and I'm so dumb.")

Steal Your Girlfriend was the upstart combo's second and last studio effort. Members issued it on their own Pin Up label. (One refugee later joined the Bellfuries.) Finnish dealer Jungle still offers it, but advises only one copy remains in stock.

Soon, online collectors and thrift stores may be buyers' sole options.

Recommended: "Panty Raid," "Kerry," "Hey Hoochie Mama," Going Going Gone," "Go Away Girl," "Yes, Yes!," "College Girl," "Bad One," "Bombshell," "Watch That Girl," "There's a Party Goin' On"

Videos: "Bombshell", "There's a Party Goin' On" (live, 2010)

Jungle Records