The Baseballs are back! The German trio released Strike! (2009) and Strike Back! (2010) rock & roll performances of contemporary hits. It turned out to be a great move, as the band sold well in Europe, especially Finland, Switzerland and Belgium. Of course you can give almost any pop song an archaic guise and that is why the third album Strings 'n' Stripes continues where the previous albums
… ended. This sometimes produces somewhat unimaginative performances. The original version of Quit Playing Games by The Backstreet Boys, for example, is a lot more exciting. Occasionally, however, the formula works remarkably well. Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman (Britney Spears) and California Gurls (Katy Perry) sound so logical that it seems as if the greasy hairs wrote these songs themselves. Furthermore, Strings 'n' Stripes is nothing more than the same trick fifteen times. However, not every band will be able to do the trick as well as The Baseballs. That is why it is interesting to see how long the Germans manage to milk this further. (JE)more
