Tav Falco's Panther Burns at El Cortez, Brooklyn, NY 5/15/2018

Tav Falco's Panther Burns (or Tav Falco & The Panther Burns) formed in 1979 with Ross Johnson on drums and Alex Chilton (who would leave the band in 1981 but record and produce various Panther Burns albums into the 1990's) on lead guitar. Their initial brand of swampy rockabilly - something that would eventually be dubbed "Psychobilly"- with a garage rock sensibility would later see the band adopt elements of Blues, Tango and general Roots-Rock.

I've been a fan of Tav Falco and his Panther Burns since 1991, when I first heard the classic Chilton-produced Life Sentence In The Cathouse album. It was love at first listen. But I'd never seen them live. They played Rodeo Bar in NY mid-2013 but was unable to attend. I made sure I didn't miss seeing him on his latest Northeast jaunt. He's touring to promote a new a documentary Make Me Know You're Mine, about the man himself.

His band was comprised of younger musicians (Falco is an astonishing 73 years old...astonishing because the man moves and performs like he's a few dozen years younger). They were well-dressed with slim-fitting suits and Beatle-Boots. The audience treated Falco like the cult legend that he is. Aside from a completely random drunken fight between two jackass punters - who were swiftly shown the door - the night was basically an old-school rock and roll dance party. Tav offered anyone willing to tango to one of his songs - appropriately a tango - the opportunity to dance on stage, sadly, no one took the offer seriously enough to do it.

The Panther Burns played a nearly two-hour set of typically obscure classics ("Arkansas Stomp", "Bad Motorcycle" and the wonderful "Make Me Know You're Mine"). His encore included a nice tribute to Alex Chilton with a faithful cover of "Bangkok".

A great show from a legendary cult figure and his ever changing Panther Burns.

Fun Boy Three: Waiting (Chrysalis Records/1983)

The Fun Boy Three was an offshoot project of ex-members of The Specials; Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple. After The Specials' single for “Ghost Town” peaked at number one on the UK charts, Golding, Hall and Staple left the band to form The Fun Boy Three.

The band had near-instant success in the U.K. with their first few singles which all reached the Top 20 and their self-titled debut album which reached the Top 10. The album had a spare sound with tribal drumming and chanting, Terry Hall's deadpan vocals and background vocal support from Bananarama. The band also returned the favor by contributing to Bananarama's “Really Saying Something” single.

The Fun Boy Three's follow-up and would-be final album, Waiting , was produced by Talking Head David Byrne. It featured full-arrangements in a significantly more classical-pop vein. It features David Byrne on guitar and ex-Specials trumpet player Dick Cuthell as well. Byrne's production really does suit the songs well. And the results are a cohesive, satisfying listen.

There are a few tangos (“The Tunnel Of Love” and “The Things We Do”) a few socio-political songs (“The More I See The Less I Believe” and “The Pressure Of Life”), a few darkly comical autobiographical songs (“Well Fancy That” and “We're Having All The Fun”), music hall via reggae (“The Farmyard Connection”) and the bands' arrangement of “Our Lips Are Sealed”, which was co-written by Hall with Jane Wiedlin. It's a poignantly darker version of The Go-Go's classic bubblegummy rendition.

All in all an awesome record. Definitely a sleeper of an album. Highly recommended.

Here's the video review: