The Fleshtones, Dirty Fences, Paul Collins' Beat, Big Huge. Monty Hall: Jersey City, NJ 7/22/2016

Jersey City's WFMU-FM has a concert space known as Monty Hall, also in Jersey City. It has a decent-sized stage, carpeted floor, fairly good acoustics and two gentleman selling beer cans (Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Lager, etc) out of two coolers behind a small table. It has a welcoming, relaxed and funky vibe.

Brooklyn, NY's Big Huge started the night off and I was surprisingly captivated by the bands natural cohesion and the lead singer's easy confidence. Since they arrived late, they only played a few songs. All of which were pretty great.

Next up was Power Pop legend and ex-member of The Nerves, Paul Collins, with a new version of The Beat. His band sounded great and Collins himself also sounded like he wouldn't know how to phone it in if he tried. He was enthusiastic and had an easy rapport with the audience. He performed "Rock N Roll Girl", "The Kids Are The Same", "Walking Out On Love" and "Working Too Hard" - all Power Pop classic standards, written by the man himself. He also belted out a version "When You Find Out" from his days with The Nerves. If you have the opportunity to see the good man in person, by all means do.

I spent the majority of Dirty Fences' set talking to my friend Susan in the back of the venue. The band had a fairly generic, hard-rock sound informed by mid-late 1990's MOR guitar rock.

I've seen The Fleshtones at least a dozen-times since 2001. The band is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. And if their performance at Monty Hall is any indication - they're nowhere near retirement. The band, with their easy showmanship and stage moves and who are all in their fifties, put bands in their twenties to shame.

Count Peter Zaremba - who also has a program on Little Steven's Underground Garage - came on stage in a cape, played Farfisa Organ, blew harp and sang like a virtual garage rock legend. Bassist Ken Fox and guitarist Keith Streng's synchronized moves recalled Paul Revere And the Raiders. And drummer Bill Milhizer was as reliable and rock steady as always. The biggest surprise of the night was the return of sometime Fleshtones saxophone player Steve Greenfield(!).

The Fleshtones are a band that sound even more ultra-stupendous with a saxophone. A portion of their brand of freak-beat garage-rock basically demands it. Greenfield played on "I Was A Teenage Zombie" and "Theme From The Vindicators". The band played such latter-day classics as "Bigger And Better", "Feels Good To Feel" and "Let's Go". They encored with the classic single "Shadow Line" and "My Kinda Lovin'". They were phenomenally tight this evening. Great show. Also, I hung out withYo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan and author of Sweat! The Story Of The Fleshtones, America's Garage Band biography author, Joe Bonomo. All in all, an awesome night.

You must go to a Fleshtones show to truly experience The Fleshones.

The Byrds: Sanctuary IV (Sundazed Music/2002)

The Byrds are one of the most influential bands of the 1960's. They seamlessly blended British Invasion pop with folk music. Incorporating psychedelic rock and raga rock. And finally overlapping traditional American country and Bluegrass music with contemporary rock music. Sanctuary series is a four volume collection on Sundazed Music. Volume four is a collection of outtakes and alternate versions of tracks from the bands groundbreaking Sweetheart Of The Rodeo album.

Gram Parsons had joined the band in February of 1968 and immediately asserted his influence and persuading original band members Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman toward Honky Tonk/Country music. This wasn't too difficult as Hillman and McGuinn had their roots in traditional country music. But it was virtually unheard of for a pop band to tackle this. Their Sweetheart Of The Rodeo album confused fans at the time and only reached # 77 on the charts and the classic single “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere” only reached #74. The album is now regarded as a classic and made Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of all-time list in 2003.

Sanctuary Four collects several of the Gram Parson vocal tracks that were originally intended for the Sweetheart album. Those tracks were later released with Roger McGuinn on lead vocals as Parson was still contractually obligated to his previous contract with Columbia Records for his time with The International Submarine Band. Including “One Hundred Years From Now”, “Life In Prison” and “You Don't Miss Your Water”. Plus fantastic non album tracks “Lazy Days” and “You've Got A Reputation”.

Sundazed Music, once again, does a fantastic job on the authentic packaging and liner notes. Recommended for Byrdmaniax and Gram Parsons fans alike.  

Here'e The Video Review:

Special Thanks to doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com

(They Rule)

Supergrass: Life On Other Planets (Parlophone/2002)

Supergrass emerged in the mid 1990's as one of the leading lights of the Britpop movement. They had top-ten UK hits with “Alright” (which was also on the Clueless soundtrack), “Lenny” and “Going Out”. Unfortunately, in the time they existed, they never really broke the US market. However, all of the bands albums were critically acclaimed, including their debut I Should Coco and their fourth album Life On Other Planets.

2002's Life On Other Planets is almost an amalgamation of what made the band so wonderful. Guitar-based pop that acknowledges the past while making contemporary, modern statements. Their are traces of the Buzzcocks, T.Rex and The Small Faces throughout the material. I personally think this the band's most cohesive release as the sequencing of the tracks gives the illusion that material came together somewhat organically.

The three commercially released singles “Seen The Light”, “Grace” and “Rush Hour Soul” are only some of the best songs on the record. “Run”, “Za”, “La Song” and “Evening Of The Day” are my personal favorites on the record of all the album tracks. This is the first album where keyboardist Rob Coombes is an official member of the band.

For my money, easily one of the best records of the 2000's. Highly recommended.  

Here's The Video Review: