Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires caught me at the right time. Recently, I have found myself deep diving into the back catalog of rock royalty: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac, and Neil Young. So, I’ve been eager to hear rock’n’roll revitalized—and this quartet claims to be the “real Alabama rock’n’roll.” Although at once instantly familiar (you’ve felt many of these hooks before), they marvelously fuse the soulfulness of Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound with the reckless energy of the Black Lips. However, at seventeen songs, Youth Detention drags, for each song clocks in around three minutes. Additionally, the mix leaves something to be desired because the vocals sound buried. Sure, it’s as if you’re listening to a band in a dive bar through a shitty sound system, but, after multiple listens, I wanted to sing along and the production wasn’t doing me any favors. If Youth Detention was simply leaner and meaner, I would wholeheartedly recommend it—as it is, it fell short of the real deal. –Sean Arenas (Don Giovanni, dongiovannirecords.com)