The Soft Boys: Nextdoorland (Matador Records/2002)

The reunion of The Soft Boys in 2001 was something of a pleasant if albeit unexpected surprise. Band leader, guitarist and vocalist Robyn Hitchcock had worked with all of the ex-Soft Boys in some faculty (either on his solo albums or as his backing band in The Egyptians) since the bands' demise in 1981. This line-up is the same one that had recorded the band's magnum opus Underwater Moonlight. It's fairly safe to say that there is virtually no difference in Robyn's lyrical persona or from what he had been doing just previous to this. And there's little to no effort to imitate the busy arrangements that band had been mining at their outset. If anything these make the songs themselves and the album as a whole far more enjoyable.

Released in 2002 on Matador Records, shortly after the tour and reissue of the Underwater Moonlight

(in celebration of that albums 21^st birthday), Nextdoorland is one of Robyn's better releases from the 2000's. He definitely seems to be rejuvenated to be playing with lead guitarist Kimberly Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor once again. The sweet backing vocals or Rew & Windsor are certainly nice to hear alongside Robyn's Syd Barretesque crooning. And it's nice to hear Robyn and Kimberly playing together in a modern context as well. The songs themselves work as a unified whole. “I Love Lucy”, “Japanese Captain”, “Pulse Of My Heart” and “Unprotected Love” being among the stand-out tracks. Outtakes from this album were issued later that year as the EP
Side Three.

The vinyl release was pressed on 150 gram vinyl and came packaged with a 7” single of live versions of “Underwater Moonlight” and “Only The Stones Remain”that were both recorded at the Hollywood Bowl.

This was rated as one of the best albums of the year when it was released and I'll stand by it.

Here's The Video Review:

Special Thanks: Doug Mashkow of New Music Scene.

Certain General: Holiday Of Love (Labor Records/1982)

Certain General spawned from the downtown New York scene. Alongside peers like Bush Tetras and Band Of Outsiders, Certain General were New York's leading purveyors of guitar-based atonal dance rock. The band formed in 1980 is still currently actively playing shows and releasing new music. And in fact they're virtual (cult) stars in France.

Holiday Of Love is their first release and having been released in 1982, as 1982 and 1983 was the era of the EP, this release also happens to be an EP. Released on Labor Records and produced by Peter Holsapple of The dB's and Michael Gira of Swans, the five-song mini-album is a nice mix of jittery-dance rock and somber mid-tempo material.

“Back Downtown” sounds like The Feelies a smidgen, “Hello My God” recalls “The End” by The Doors, “Leader Out” sound not unlike Bauhaus. “B flat, C2” sounds like what would happen if Gang Of Four were a surf rock band. “Holiday Of Love” could've been the hit dance single that X never had. There's something slightly Velvet Underground-y and Televisionesque about Certain General's approach yet lead singer Parker Dulany has a lyrical vision all his own.

Recommended for fans of any of the band I named. Certain General is worth checking out.  

Here's the video review:

Special thanks to: Kevin Tooley, Prefab International & Dennis Landau.

Adam And The Ants: Dirk Wears White Sox (Do It Records/1979) (Epic Records/1983)

New Wave icon Adam Ant had numerous UK hit singles in the early 1980's with his band the Ants. Among them “Ant Music”, “Stand & Deliver” and “Prince Charming”. However the band initially had a significantly different sound. Based in all things S&M, the original punk/post-punk Ants were somewhat less colorful-sounding than the hit-laden Ants were.

The lone album this era of Adam And The Ants was Dirk Wears White Sox. Released in October of 1979 the album contained plenty of early Ant favorites such as “Car Trouble” (which would later be re-recorded and released as a single peaking at #33), “Cleopatra” and “Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)”. The music is a fairly unique blend of post-punk. The album is comparable to XTC's Go 2, Gang Of Four's Entertainment, Magazine's Real Life and Siouxie & The Banshees' The Scream. Plenty of angular, atonal guitars and interesting rhythms ornamented with stark lyrical themes.

The album was finally issued in the US in 1983, after the success of “Goody Two Shoes”. The album contained different cover art (a still taken from the “Zerox” music video, a still was also used for the single-sleeve of “Cartrouble”). “Day I Met God” & Catholic Day” were dropped in favor of the singles of “Zerox” and Car Trouble” (and their B-Sides “Whip In My Valise” & “Kick”, respectively) .

It is this line-up of Adam Ant on vocals, Andre Warren on bass, Dave Barbarossa on drums and percussion, Matthew Ashman on guitar that band manager Malcolm Mclaren poached from Adam to subsequently form Bow Bow Wow.

Both versions of the album are worth hearing and dare I say the American Version is more crowd-pleasing of the two. But there is an integrity to original UK version that is possibly unmatched by the US version, as it was Adam's original version of the album in the first place.

Very Most Highly Recommended for fans of post-punk, punk and new wave.

Here's the video review:

Photography: Janet Beckman

T.Rex: T.Rextasy: The Best Of T.Rex 1970-1973 (Warner Bros. Records/1985)

T.Rex were one of the United Kingdom's all-time most popular bands. After the Beatles' break up in 1970, the band was virtually the next full-blown musical pop culture phenomenon. The band also ushered in, what became known as Glam Rock. Formed in 1967 and led by the flamboyant Marc Bolan, the band was originally known as Tyrannosaurus Rex and were a psychedelic acoustic-based duo with lyrics inspired by the Lord Of The Rings amongst other things. Eventually producer Tony Visconti tired of writing the full band on the studio track sheets and began simply writing “T.Rex”. Marc Bolan eventually came to prefer this as simultaneously the band began simplifying their arrangements to include electric guitar, bongos and a rhythm section.

It was with this format and the line-up of Marc Bolan on guitar and vocals, Mickey Finn on bongos and percussion, Steve Currie on bass and Bill Legend on drums that the band found commercial and critical success. From 1970 until 1973 the band had a string of hit singles: (i.e. “Ride A White Swan” (UK #2), “Hot Love” (UK #1), “Get It On” (UK #1), “Jeepster” (UK #2), “Telegram Sam” (UK #1), “Metal Guru” (UK #1), “Children Of The Revolution” (UK #2), “Solid Gold Easy Action” (UK #2), “20^th Century Boy” (UK #3), “The Groover” (UK #4), “Truck On (Tyke)” (UK #12), “Teenage Dream” (UK #13)). They influenced a generation of punk rockers in the UK and US and initially a slew of imitators in The Sweet, Slade, Mud and Gary Glitter. They even substantially influenced Bolan's friend & peer David Bowie and pushed him to greater success than he initially had.

Commercial success in the United States remained largely elusive for Marc Bolan and T.Rex. While “Get It On” (renamed “Bang A Gong (Get It On)” in the US to avoid confusion with another song at the time by a band called Chase) hit number 10 on the Billboard Charts. They also had a few other charting hits (Telegram Sam” at #67, “Hot Love” at #72 and “Ride A White Swan” at #76) as well as a turntable hit in “Jeepster” their success was comparatively minor.

T. Rextacy: The Best Of T.Rex 1970-1973 is largely successful in every way. The only thing that I'd change is I'd drop their cover of “Summertime Blues” in place of “Children Of The Revolution” and the reprise of “The Children Of Rarn” in favor of “Cadillac” and you have yourself a perfect 1970-73 retrospective. If allotted more vinyl It'd also be nice to have“Truck On (Tyke)” and “Teenage Dream” on there as well.

Very most highly recommended. 

Here's the video review: