In their promo material Chicago-based band Man's Body is described as "soft punk," whatever that is...maybe a little insulting to punk rockers. This isn't what I'd call a punk rock album though, but what it is, we'll just have to muddle through together. Man's Body consists of Greg Franco (ex-Rough Church) - vocals; J. Niimi (Ashtray Boy) - guitar, organ, vocals; Marco Obaya (The Remedies) - guitar & vocals; Fredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello, Los Lobos) - drums, percussion, vocals. Guests include: Dante Pascuzzo - guitars, bass, synth; Marc Doten - bass, piano; Derek Crawford & Gerald Down - drums & percussion; Kaitlin Wolfberg - violin, vocals, Theremin, synth; Probyn Gregory - trumpet, French horn, flugelhorn, trombone and more; Jeff McElkroy – bass, vocals; Gordon Bash - mandolin. With all that, you might think this is a gloriously overproduced mess. You'd be wrong.

The band's sophomore effort, 'A Set of Steak Knives,' following their 2018 debut album, 'Put Your Family In It,' is a self-produced enigma of 11 tracks in 43 minutes. Listening to the latter, it seems like a demo for this one, in that the songs are neither awful nor great, just still developing. Franco channels Ray Davies and Lou Reed with equal aplomb, but still seems to be striving to find his own identity. The 'Steak Knives' opener - "Contact Sigh" is not only the most gorgeous song on the album, but also their best..ever, and one of the main reasons I even decided to review this album (which may or may not fit into Chain D.L.K.'s genre parameters). Man's Body is firing on all cylinders here, and with just a little tweak in production and arrangement, it could be an absolute killer. I think of latter-day Steve Kilbey and The Church on this one. "40 Oz. Kid" is all jangly guitars and Tom Petty style rock; tuneful, nice hook but a bit lethargic. Can't help but think how ordinary "The Natural Host" sounds; a gazillion indie bands have written songs like this. "Handler" seems like it could have been an outtake from an imaginary Iggy Pop/Jonathan Richman collaboration album. Love the punky riff, and the lyrics are pretty good too. "Hit The Bricks" is supposed to be a tribute to The Fall's Mark E. Smith, but the clapping big beat reminds me more of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll," not that anybody really wants to get compared to Gary Glitter.

The boys try for a heartfelt ballad on "Last Day on Earth" but come up short with meandering, overwrought vocals, grungy guitar. It comes off like Nirvana being fronted by Bob Dylan with amateur backup singers on a drunken club date. No point in much discussing the loopy "Blue Ruin" which is largely guitar instrumental with some Zappa--esque talky commentary and a single verse and chorus sung at the end. Out of the blue though comes "Classically Mine," a tune with a dead-on '70s pop arrangement with all those wonderful string and horn elements that elevates this number a step above. No match for "Contact Sigh," but one more reason to buy the album. If you need something more basically punk rock, "Shower and a Cigarette" should fill the bill. Basic but Classic. Don't know what the point of "I Left the Set of My Own TV Show" is; guess they just needed another song on the album, but it didn't do much for me. So what's this band's genre, really? I still don't have a good answer. Post Punk Eclectic? Maybe. Although I didn't care for everything, Man's Body is still worth a listen, and being released on vinyl is a definite plus.