Pop Music Reviews : Neo-Southern Rock And a Janis Fixation

The names that have been dropped alongside that of Atlanta rocker Michelle Malone--she’s been compared to Janis Joplin, Patti Smith and even Keith Richards--are something of a red flag. No one’s that good, and that kind of hype overwhelms Malone’s fine but hardly stunning new major-label debut album, “Relentless.”

Malone and her splendidly named band, Drag the River, fared a little better at the Whisky on Wednesday, kicking out neo-Southern rock with feeling and fire. But only the Joplin comparison made any sense, and that only visually. Malone is a young woman with a serious Janis fixation, adorning herself in floppy hat, furry vest and purple chaps, and spewing some gratuitous tough-chick sex-talk. But often it just seemed as if she’d seen “The Rose” too many times; Wednesday she had little of Joplin’s charisma and daring.

A comparison that makes sense is to Maria McKee, whose voice Malone’s resembles. But again, she lacked McKee’s magnetic presense. Malone seemed somewhat stiff Wednesday, and was obviously annoyed by the noisy schmoozing of the record-industry crowd. But a great performer--a Joplin, Smith or Richards, say--would shrug that off and just deliver an intense show to command attention. Letting it get to her was a rookie’s mistake.

Another rookie mistake was overstaying her welcome. The show peaked at the 45-minute mark with a hot version of the Faces’ “Stay With Me” . . . and then went on for another 45 minutes. At this stage of the game, Malone doesn’t have the material or command to fill 90 minutes. For now, chalk up this crew as a really good minor-league bar band that has some growing to do before it’s ready to move into the majors.