The English Beat: The Hall At MP, Brooklyn, NY (3/3/2017)

The English Beat were, along with The Specials, Madness and others, part of the U.K. 2 Tone ska revival in the late 1970's. The had a slew of hits in the U.K. and a few in the U.S., namely "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Save It For Later" and "I Confess". They broke up in 1983 (spin-off groups included General Public and Fine Young Cannibals) and have recently reformed. The English Beat has always been something of a third-string favorite band of mine, yet I've always immensely enjoyed their small catalog of three albums. I've certainly never thought to see them live, until now.

The new band features Dave Wakeling and six new able-bodied members. The band confidently took the stage dressed in matching black Fred Perry polo shirts (reportedly shoulder checking various audience members on the way) and were sprightly, tight and well-rehearsed. The certainly exceeded my expectations as far as reproducing their danceably spare sound. They're touring ostensibly to celebrate the band's forthcoming Here We Go Love album, which is due this Summer. It will be the bands first studio album in thirty-four years. The band sampled two new tracks from the album ("The Love You Give Last Forever" and "Said We Would Never Die").

The band reminded the audience just how many classic tracks they had: "Twist & Crawl", "Doors Of Your Heart", "Too Nice To Talk To", "I Confess", "Hands Off She's Mine", "Save It For Later", their cover of "Tears Of A Clown" and "Mirror In The Bathroom". Wakeling and company even pulled out "Tenderness" (his later band, General Public's biggest hit). It was a great show by fine band.

Special thanks to Laurel.

Adam Ant: Charline McCombs Empire Theatre San Antonio, TX (2/15/2017)

New Wave icon Adam Ant has been touring on the U.S. performing his classic Kings Of The Wild Frontier album. The tour hit San Antonio, and Ant came ready to (Stand &) deliver the goods. Armed with two drummers (just as The Ants had), a bassist and a guitarist, the band was well-rehearsed and you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a brand new band and not an exercise in nostalgia. Although his fans know that he's covered so many bases and very well, it seemed like maybe Ant (nee Stuart Goddard) had something to prove. He's always been an energetic, charismatic performer, and at age sixty-two, he still is.

He performed the U.K. version of Kings Of The Wild Frontier album from beginning to end (which included the U.K. Top-Five hit singles; "Antmusic", "Dog Eat Dog" and the title-track). He tackled plenty of early material ("Zerox", "Cartrouble" & "Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)"), mega-hits ("Goody Two Shoes", "Stand & Deliver", "Prince Charming"), a few shoulda-been mega-hits ("Vive Le Rock", "Desperate But Not Serious"), approximately six early Ants B-Sides and a cover of T.Rex's "Get It On".

All-in-all it was an amazing performance. His backing band were loud and present and were fine de facto replacements for the Kings-era Ants. The man is still as capable as he ever was and it seems like he has more fire under his belly than the average 80's new waver. Mellow is not a word one would use to describe his current edginess.

A perfect show.

The Plimsouls "Resouled" at Bowery Electric, New York , NY 2/3/2017

I've been a fan of The Plimsouls since I first heard "Zero Hour" in the classic 80's comedy The Last American Virgin. Not too long after that I saw Valley Girl, which not only had three of their songs but the band itself playing "live" in a club scene. This was when was a preteen, sometime in the mid/late 1980's. The original band broke up in 1984, but reformed (unbeknonst to me at the time) in the mid/late 90's. And I managed to miss them when they toured yet again in the mid 2000's.

This time The Plimsouls have been reformed (or "Resouled", if you will) by lead guitarist Eddie Munoz with a new backing band. Original Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Peter Case and bassist Dave Pahoa are not in the current line-up (original drummer Lou Ramirez hasn't been part of the band since their initial break-up). The new members, whose names I do not know, were all fine and well and they replaced the absent-member's parts admirably. However, anytime a band replacs such important members like the lead singer, who wrote all the lyrics, etc. with new band members, I feel like I'm giving points for effort when I'm not only watching the band's performance but reviewing their set/performance.

The Plimsouls "Resouled" are a fine cover band that also happens to feature a member of the band they're playing tribute to on lead guitar. They played all the classic Plimsouls songs; "Now", "Zero Hour", "Hush, Hush", "I'll Get Lucky", "Lost Time",  "Oldest Story In The World" and the band's biggest hit "A Million Miles Away". I love these songs, so it was nice hearing them all in alive context. The Plimsouls - the original band proper - have always had a reputation as a great live band. After all, the band have as many live albums as they do studio albums.

I'm glad I (finally) got to see "The Plimsouls Resouled", but I really hope I do get to see The Plimsouls reform one day and see
Peter Case sing these songs he wrote with the band he wrote them for.

XTC: English Settlement: Deluxe Edition Box Set (Ape House/2016)

XTC were one of the most important, influential and experimental bands to come out of the UK Punk/New Wave movement. For the last few years they've been releasing definitive, deluxe versions of their albums (both on Blu Ray and on Vinyl). Last Summer yielded vinyl releases of both English Settlement and Skylarking. English Settlement is easily on of the bands' best albums; "Senses Working Overtime", "Ball & Chain" and "No Thugs In Our House" were the singles. Noteworthy album tracks include: "Jason And The Argonauts", "Melt The Guns" and "English Roundabout". The band has an easy confidence to their playing and sound at the top of their game.

As far as definitive vinyl box sets go, it doesn't get much better than this.
Double album on 200 gram vinyl, a CD flat master of the album, a sixteen-page booklet with very detailed liner notes written by all four members of the band, and lyrics for all songs. The audio source is the original half-inch masters.

Very highly recommended to fans of XTC and to anyone not familiar with the band; do yourself a favor and check out this album, Black Sea and/or Drums And Wires.

Here's the video review:


Special Thanks to: Dave Rerecich of TeeVee Games.

The Fleshtones: The Band Drinks For Free (Yep Roc/2016)

In 2016, New York's The Fleshtones celebrated their 40th anniversary. They're the only band from the mid 70's downtown scene to remain active every year of their existence. Celebrating this milestone, the band released their twenty-first record, The Band Drinks For Free.

A groovy cover of Ten Years After's "Love Like A Man" (which features guest vocals from Lisa Kekaula of The Bellrays) starts things off confidently enough, and that confidence doesn't seem to let up. The album reveals a few modern-day Fleshtones classics in "Rick Wakeman's Cape", "Suburban Roulette", "Living Today" and "Stupid Ole Sun". The band also cover the forgotten surf-movie ditty "The Gasser" by The Hondells. The band rocks in it's usual way; classic garage rock with stomping beats, fuzztone bass, Farfisa-organ strains all laced with the right amount of harmonica wails.

Lead singer, keyboardist and harmonica man Peter Zaremba (aka the host of Count Zaremba's Crypt on SiriusXM) is in excellent form, as always. guitarist/vocalist Keith Streng, bassist/vocalist Ken Fox and drummer extraordinaire Bill Millhizer, are, as always, never less than excellent.

Yep Roc offers a Bundle which includes the vinyl LP, the CD, an MP3 download code of the album, a 7" single of the non album title track (which for my money is the best song by the band in years) and the album B-Side of "Love My Lover". And the real selling point, for fans of the stealth carrying of liquors is a Fleshtones flask!

Most very highly recommended!

Here's the video review:

Robyn Hitchcock: The Man Upstairs (Yep Roc/2014)

Ex-leader of The Soft Boys, The Egyptians and The Venus Three, Robyn Hitchcock, released his twenty-first album The Man Upstairs. It's ten songs; five Hitchcock originals and five covers. He covers The Psychedelic Furs' "The Ghost In You" (which Hitchcock has covered since the 80's), Roxy Music's "To Turn You On", The Doors' "Crystal Ship", Grant Lee Philips' "Don't Look Down" and I Was A King's "Ferries". The album was produced by the legendary Joe Boyd (Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Cool It Reba) and features cover art by Gillian Welch. The best tracks on this are "San Francisco Patrol" and "Trouble In Blood". The album fits alongside Robyn's several acoustic albums and is a fine addition to an already wonderful back catalog.

Here's the video review:




Thanks to: Doug Mashkow.

Robyn Hitchcock: City Winery, New York, NY (11/19/2016)

 Ex-Soft Boys/Egyptians front man Robyn Hitchcock has been making music for almost forty-years. It's something of a surprise that he's as vital a live performer as he is. He's been a troubadour in the lone-man-with-an-acoustic-guitar sense for well over twenty of those forty years. His latest album The Man Upstairs (Yep Roc) is something of an odd summation of his acoustic leanings and where he comes from as an artist.

Hitchcock performed a few songs from the record (namely "San Fancisco Patrol") as well as some of his most well-known songs ("Balloon Man", "One Long Pair Of Eyes" & "Queen Elvis"). Australian country artist (and frequent collaborator as of late) Emma Swift join Robyn on harmony vocals for a few songs as well. He even dipped deeper into the back catalog with "Uncorrected Personality Traits" and "Trilobite" as well.

At 63, Robyn is as an engaging a performer as ever. He also makes himself very accessible after the shows, hanging out at the merch table, patiently signing anything for anyone.

A nice show by Robyn, as always.

Thanks to Doug Mashkow of CD Island and The New Music Scene.