All right, it's time for modern rock musicians to admit that the old-fashioned garage revival has turned into a double-edged sword. It's great to see real bands making real music, but once it became cool for any band to add a "the" to its name, it was impossible for the genre to remain genuine.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Take Them On, On Your Own isn't bad, but it falls victim to this trend. With almost every cliche imaginable -- muffled vocals, gritty drums, unnecessarily distorted, repetitive bass lines -- the album is almost a parody of itself. Two years ago, it would have rested comfortably at the top of a new genre with a fresh and exciting sound, but two years ago, that genre was so underdeveloped that the disc couldn't have been written.

Take Them On, On Your Own basically recycles every riff we've already heard in the rock-friendly areas of pop culture. "Generation" and "Six Barrel Shotgun" sound like excerpts from an average afternoon's viewing of MTV2, while "Stop," "U.S. Government" and "Rise or Fall" don't feel complete without the visual aid of some brilliantly shot new cars and information on the cash-back benefits of purchasing them.

At its best, the Club sounds like a pretty bored Radiohead flirting with a very ticked-off Oasis, such as on the swaying "Suddenly." "Shade of Blue" is a listenable mix of Radiohead's "My Iron Lung" with Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl," but like the whole disc, the track just doesn't break any new ground.

It's all right to go back to basics, but what's the point if it doesn't take us somewhere ahead at the same time?

-- Reviewed by Paul Weinstein