Corey Feldman & The Angels: The Korova, San Antonio, TX (5/26/2017)

Self-proclaimed legend/child actor Corey Feldman dazzled his fans at the Korova with a set of his original material. The man who starred in The Goonies, Stand By Me and License To Drive has been making music of questionable merit for over thirty-years now. He has released about five albums too.

He was in town to make an appearance at Alamo City Comic Con earlier that day. His twenty-song set lasted about two-hours and felt even longer. Many of those songs were from his newest album, Angelic 2 The Core. His band, The Angels, five females all dressed in angel wings and halos, were a serviceable band. Corey, despite having been up since 6 AM, had a remarkable amount of energy. Corey took a few short breaks every few songs, for a costume change as the Angels played on.

Also making an appearance at Comic Con was fellow Goonie star Jonathan Ke Quan (aka Data!!).
Ke Quan also hopped onstage with Corey and they (with significant support from The Angels) treated us to a rousing rendition of "The Goonies R Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper. I have to admit, it was pretty special, not to mention surreal, seeing this all happen before my very eyes. This was basically the (mid) show-stopper. Corey also covered The Beatles' "Why Don't We Do It In The Road", with Mr. Feldman himself on drums and vocals. He pulled this off quite well. Who knew he could play the drums?

If this wasn't enough. I got to meet the man himself at a meet and greet in the basement of the venue a good hour after the show ended. Corey was perfectly gracious and nice. He signed a few things and took a photo with me as well.

Come to think of it, the guy really IS a legend.

Shoes: Black Vinyl Shoes (Sire U.K./1979)

Zion, Illinois' Shoes were influenced by the usual suspects that influenced Power Pop bands of the late 1970's; namely The Beatles, Nazz, The Who, The Raspberries, Big Star and Badfinger. Although they'd recorded three privately released albums in significantly small quantities the band commercially released their fourth album Black Vinyl Shoes. Released on their own Black Vinyl label and on US indie PVC shortly thereafter, the album was recorded in guitarist Jeff Murphy's living room on a TEAC 3340S reel to reel tape recorder.

The warm sound, low-key yet mellifluous multi-tracked harmony vocals and overall impact of the material made the entire recording industry sit up and acknowledge the fact that an album this professional sounding could be recorded at one's home and completely take place without the financial help of a major label. It was released on Sire Records in the UK in 1979 and in no time at all the band signed with Elektra in the US and went on to record albums that sounded not too different than Black Vinyl Shoes.

Musically the band has the crunch of the Dwight Twilley Band, the vocal harmonies of The Raspberries, the melodic punch of fellow Illinois bands Pezband and Off Broadway. Shoes' vocal harmonies and hooks seem to just roll off very naturally. Lyrically, Black Vinyl Shoes seems to be preoccupied with the politics and dynamics of romantic relationships. The songs can be pretty dark yet they never come off as such on the surface. There's a certain saminess to the material on this album (as there are on most Shoes albums). However, generally speaking, if you like Shoes sound, approach and material, you won't have a problem with this.

Here's the video review: