Rock’A’Teens were an Atlanta band that brought together the remnants of several local groups (Opal Foxx Quartet, Dirt, and Jody Grind) around Kelly Hogan of Jody Grind. Their debut album, Rock’A’Teens (Daemon, 1996), featured three guitarists (Justin Hughes and Chris Lopez from the Opal Foxx Quartet were the other two) and delivered a raw, psychotic garage-blues-rock (Picks Her Teeth, HingHangHung).

Cry (Daemon, 1997) gave their sound a more mature dimension, with the wild bursts of Rockabilly Ghetto, Your Heart Or Your Life, and Cry Crybaby, which at their best recall Gun Club tracks. Songs like I Am Forgetting, Nightmare, and Never Really Had It push beyond garage-rock clichés, biting into Duane Eddy twang, rockabilly, surf, and early psychedelia with the delicacy of a vampire.

After the EP Turn On The Waterworks (Merge), the band—by then having lost Hogan—returned with Baby A Little Rain Must Fall (Merge, 1998), embracing a more traditional sound. Teen Muscle Teen Hustle is garage-rock rooted in the marches of the 1960s, while the slow I Could’ve Just Died overflows with Santo & Johnny and many other carefree sounds of that decade. The trio favors the pathetic tones of existential ballads (Don’t Destroy This Night above all), though Lopez may be a singer slightly too rough for this genre. Still, Lopez impressed a decisive turn on the band’s direction.

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Leaving behind their raw voodoobilly past, the Rock*A*Teens adopted majestic orchestration and melodramatic melodies to support Lopez's realist vignettes of suburban life, with a preference for stories of misfits sets to waltzing tempos. Golden Time (Merge, 1999) contains one more gem of 1950's revival (Little Caesar On A Bicycle), but the center of mass is the metaphysical ballad a` la Nick Cave (In The Woods Of Hemlock Park, Black Metal Stars). Lopez is a mediocre singer and guitarist, but probably a good songwriter. Unfortunately, when he focuses on what he does best, he doesn't seem to find the right format. When he is serious, the music is a bore. When the music is exciting like on the early albums, he can't tell a decent story.

Sweet Bird Of Youth (Merge, 2000) is more of the same, with If I Wanted To Be Famous to entertain with its sprightly rock and roll energy and I Hope You Never See Me Like This to indulge in Lopez's usual melodrama. The rowdy guitars, the dysfunctional vocals and the out-of-tune, reverbed keyboards are often the saving grace of the band (Betwixt Or Between).

Kelly Hogan's Because It Feel Good (Bloodshot, 2001) is mainly a display of her voice. The material is almost all covers, albeit tastefully arranged. Too bad, because her own No Bobby Don't obscures everything else.