The Table Of Contents is here:
http://rocktableofcontents.blogspot.com/If the 1970s was the decade of the independent record in Boston the 80s resulted in many a Boston area group getting signed to major labels or major independents. Here is a variety of different recordings I've reviewed for AllMusic.com
Down Avenue
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0ifexqtaldheThe Dream 1983 e.p. (Early EXTREME)
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:avfyxqr0ldkeFarrenheit
The Fools SOLD OUT 1980
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fzfpxqy5ldteThe Fools - Heavy Mental
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gzfpxqy5ldteGIRLS NIGHT OUT 1985
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jvfyxqr0ldkeJon Butcher Axis
Jon Butcher Axis 1983
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0vfixqt5ldjeWishes 1987
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fvfoxq95ld6eSTIFF LITTLE BREEZE Jon Butcher Axs
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:09ftxq9aldheAn Ocean In Motion Live in Boston 1984 Jon Butcher Axis
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kzfpxqwaldseJon Butcher Axis Live At The Casbah
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kjfuxqyaldseNew England 1st Album
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xfexqr5ldaeNew England "Explorer Suite"
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:axfexqr5ldaeNew England Walking Wild
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfexqr5ldaeNew England 1978
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kvftxqualdkeNew England Greatest Hits Live
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dcfuxq8aldteNew Man
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:09frxqlhld6eNovember Group November Group
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0pfixqqhldteNovember Group Persistent Memories (1983)
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:apfixqqhldteNovember Group (A & M Records) Work That Dream 1985
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:g9fyxqlhld6eRobin Lane & The Chartbusters
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jjfixqugld6e~T11980 Robin Lane & The Chartbusters debut
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xfoxqq5lddeImitation Life
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:axfoxqq5ldde5 Live
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kxfoxqq5lddePrivate Lightning
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3xftxqy5ldjeCOMPILATIONSLIVE AT THE METRO Press A Dent Records
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hjfexqu0ld6eWCOZTHE BEST OF THE BOSTON BEAT
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hjfrxqw0lddeWCOZ Best Of The Boston Beat Vol 2
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kpftxqyhld0eThe Reviews
Down Avenue
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0ifexqtaldheReview by Joe Viglione
Alvan Long was the drummer in Boston's
November Group on its 1982 self-titled EP, and was joined by bassist/vocalist
Don Foote for 1983's follow-up,
Persistent Memories. They branched off on their own, releasing this five-song EP on the 6L6 label the same year
November Group signed to A&M, 1985. "Girlfriend" sounds like
the Jonzun Crew with snappy drums and '80s club/dance keyboards identifying immediately what Down Avenue is all about: a group that was as derivative as it was engaging. The mid-'80s brought a number of artists into this sterile but interesting realm,
Adventure Set and
Face to Face also making noise in Massachusetts and beyond, the artist's identities all merged into a synth/dance amalgam on radio and in the clubs. Only
Michael Jonzun and his brother
Maurice Starr broke out of the mold, with
Laurie Sargent from
Face to Face also carving a niche beyond the pack. The sad thing is that Down Avenue is among the best players of this sound just before it all fell off the ledge into manufactured disposable Muzak. This EP as well as the release by
Adventure Set are the last vestiges of decent Boston music before the scene exploded and band names proliferated on a daily basis. "Nighttime" is another good melody and performance, though there is nothing here that jumps out at you as an unarguable hit.
Roxy Music was performing this exact same sentiment on
Avalon with far more personality, and for all the slick production and smooth musicianship, there is absolutely nothing to grab onto here. It could be anyone singing "Nighttime" and any group of musicians crafting these sounds. The three songs on side two, "Winter's Past," "Way Down the Avenue," and "These 4 Walls" melt into a seamless essay devoid of peaks and valleys. "Winter's Past" sounds like a soft rock version of the band
New England's classic "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya." "Way Down the Avenue" could be the band's theme song with the hook lifted from
Bruce Springsteen and
Manfred Mann the decade before -- "That's where the fun is" sounds like it stepped out of "Blinded By the Light." Nothing here is as outstanding as
Adventure Set's "Blue Is for Boys," but there's nothing bad here either. The band was rumored to have signed with RCA and probably did, but then vanished as quickly as
November Group did on A&M.
Charles Pettigrew's vocals are slick and soulful, but they are pipes in need of a song that was more than just pleasant background music.
The Dream 1983 e.p. (Early EXTREME)
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:avfyxqr0ldkeReview by Joe Viglione
Before
Gary Cherone joined
Van Halen this group sold the band name the Dream to one of the major TV networks after their brilliant local manager,
Joanne Codi, initiated a lawsuit (she was clever enough to trademark the name). When the TV show Dreams launched (about a rock band trying to make it), suddenly this group had the cash to cut a video of their regional hit penned by lead singer
Cherone, "Mutha (Don't Wanna Go to School Today)." This original lineup was the band that made incredible waves in Boston, opening for
Nightranger at the Orpheum Theater and drawing crowds wherever they played. Along with
Girls Night Out and
Rick Berlin: The Movie, they were a dominant force on the live music scene in New England during the '80s. Keyboard player
Mika Watson added a dimension missing when drummer
Paul Geary (famous for managing
Godsmack) and singer
Gary Cherone became
Extreme on A&M Records.
Peter Hunt's contributions on guitar and songs were vital. "The Mask" and "See the Light," two of his three compositions on this six-song EP, were, along with
Gary Cherone's "Mutha," the songs that launched the band. Had there not been a Dreams TV show the band would not have been called
Extreme. "The Mask" is quite simply a brilliant rock song, full of pop melody and progressive riffs. "See the Light" is a hard rock takeoff on "Eight Miles High" by
the Byrds, while
Hunt's "Why" is the sort of break song that an album needs to divert the listener from the musical similarities inherent in any set of recordings. Quoting Edgar Allan Poe's line, "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream," is the kind of stuff that separates this early incarnation from the onslaught that was the major-label band who hit with "More Than Words" in 1991. Sure,
Nuno Bettencourt's guitar and songwriting skills were essential to that aggregation, but there was something special about the band when
Paul Mangone was on bass instead of
Pat Badger, and when
Mika Watson and
Peter Hunt created a firm foundation for
Gary Cherone's voice and stage antics. They were a very special band and this EP is an important and highly listenable document of what came first.
Farrenheit
The Fools SOLD OUT 1980
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by Joe Viglione
The major-label debut of vocalist
Mike Gerard, guitarists
Richie Bartlett and
Stacy Pedrick, drummer
Chris Pedrick, and bassist
Doug Forman, collectively the Fools, stands as a concise and well recorded musical statement by an important Boston group. Produced by
Pete Solley, the band escaped the curse of New England groups suffering inferior recordings in major studios. "Spent the Rent" is a powerful rocker, while "Easy for You" is a tender ballad and shows what a pro bunch these musicians posing as jokers were. "It's a Night for Beautiful Girls" was a smash in the New England region but made no real dent nationally, and, for some strange reason, EMI-America put the song that established them in their hometown, a parody of
the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer," entitled "Psycho Chicken," as a 45 rpm inside the album jacket, but not included on the 12" vinyl. Produced by guitarist
Richard Bartlett, who would go on to join
Ben Orr's solo project, and engineered by
Luna producer
Jay Mandel, "Psycho Chicken" was so much of what this band was about. The original four-track basement recording got tons of local airplay in and around the Boston area, and was as much a hit as "It's a Night for Beautiful Girls." The 45 rpm is on white vinyl, saying that either their management or the record label knew the importance of this tongue-in-cheek side of the group. A cover of the
Leigh/
Charlap classic "I Won't Grow Up" just doesn't have the sparkle that
David Byrne's underground hit generated as re-written with
Forman and
Girard, the two main songwriters for the Fools. "Night Out" begins the album with a burst of three minute pop followed by "Fine With Me," "Don't Tell Me," and the title track, "Sold Out" — all well-crafted pop songs with
Beatles guitar lines and enough jangle to qualify them for underground pop rockers, somewhere between the radio friendliness of
the Raspberries with the seriousness
Badfinger brought to their work. While their contemporaries
Human Sexual Response stretched the boundaries, the Fools tempered the joking and sought respectability. Years later, Sold Out stands as a very respectable and very important debut album by a band that was able to play the local circuit for more than a decade after its release as one of the major draws in New England. Not a bad accomplishment, and an indication that they deserved national recognition and could have entertained the masses had EMI kept working their discs beyond the second release,
Heavy Mental, which followed in 1981. Just listen to the blend of American music and British pop that is "Sad Story," the only song clocking in over four minutes, and a beautiful one at that.
The Fools - Heavy Mental
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by Joe Viglione
The Fools were a phenomenally successful Boston band in the 1970s and 1980s, but, as often happens, were not presented accurately to the world on their major-label debut, or its follow up.
Pete Solley's pedestrian production on the 1980 release
Sold Out is almost indiscernible when compared to
Vini Poncia's presentation of the band a year later. A song like "Around The Block" cries for the zaniness that this group injected into their parody of
The Talking Heads a few years earlier, but even the great riff is kind of muddied. The problem isn't so much bad production, something many of their peers from Boston had to deal with (a much more serious problem than the curse of the "Bosstown Sound"). Indeed, the problem here is what befell
Willie Alexander on MCA — it feels like the record label was normalizing the group. "Local Talent" has this smooth recording which emulates
John Cougar Mellencamp, to the point where lead singer
Mike Girard actually sounds like a young
Mellencamp on this track about ladies of the night, not local bands. "What I Tell Myself" opens side two, and it sounds like a mainstream pop version of the band
Deep Purple. It is telling that while their first album yielded the excellent "It's A Night For Beautiful Girls," it is the
Roy Orbison cover here, "Running Scared," which is the outstanding track on Heavy Mental. These were mental times for Boston rock & roll (a local D.J.,
Captain P.J. actually had the phrase "Go Mental" and would create havoc at Boston area shows), but there is nothing chaotic, crazy, or even marginally psychotic about Heavy Mental. "Lost Number" is another title which should sound like
The Tubes, not a subdued
Eddie Cochran. The Fools really had it together, and where
Mike Girard could sound like
Roy Orbison and
John Mellencamp, he sounds like
Fee Waybill a bit on "Lost Number," but the band sounds like someone putting handcuffs on
The Tubes, where this band was a more suburban "let's have some outrageous fun" act and needed to be given more latitude.
Rich Bartlett is an incredible player, but like
Elliot Easton in
The Cars, he was restrained from being the blazing guitar star he was quite capable of being at this point in time. He would actually join
Ben Orr of
The Cars in the late 90s, and had the creative freedom to reinvent that band's Top 40 hits. Bassst
Doug Forman sings the lead on "Last Cadillac On Earth," a heavy urban rocker with more emphasis on riffs, more like
Foghat. How their management or record label intended to market a group clearly being pushed into directions different from their stage show is a good study in the problems of the record industry, but it failed to give The Fools a platform to create and grow. They were able to sell tons of records on their own label in the Northeast after their two albums on EMI-America, and maybe their record deal raised their profile and helped them affirm their position in New England, but they deserved much more. Producer
Vini Poncia has displayed great pop sensibilities, but none of them are obvious on Heavy Mental, an album too sane for its own good.
GIRLS NIGHT OUT 1985
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by Joe Viglione
One of the greatest tragedies in Boston rock & roll history, and something the world is the worse for, is this difficult document of one of the best '80s bands from New England, Girls Night Out. For a group who approximately grossed over a quarter of a million dollars in a two-year period, they were saddled with arguably the worst cover art in Boston history, substandard production by the usually reliable
Chris Lannon, and evidence that radio-station politics, mismanagement, and too many cooks can do more than spoil the stew; politics can stand in the way of important art. Nothing on this record jumps out at you like the eight-track demo of "Matter of Time," the regional radio hit recording that helped launch
GNO's career. The failure to re-track "Matter of Time," a song that was like a girl group version of
'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry," is the true crime of the heart here. The great
Jimmy Miller produced a cover of "Baby It's You" for lead guitarist
Wendy Sobel in 1983, and the version is sultry, moody, and brilliant, but is not included here. The three songs
Jimmy Miller did with
Wendy Sobel, one-seventh of this band, blow away this entire disc. "Affair of the Heart," "Love Under Pressure," "Calling Doctor Love," and "Crime of the Heart" are studied performances with none of the excitement the girls displayed on-stage. The precision is the kind of homogenization one expects from a major label, not from an independent group, and it feels like the act was being directed from the pages of This Business of Music rather than by the creative instincts of a professional. The results are disappointing.
Didi Stewart wrote all the material, and there is no doubt she is a genius, but her talent was inhibited by business forces behind the scenes. Rumor has it that
Madonna/
Brian Wilson producer
Andy Paley was interested in signing the group, but the manager allegedly would not agree to the terms. If that urban myth is true, it is a shame, for
Paley could have taken "Affair of the Heart" and given it the
Phil Spector treatment. The songs are all first-rate, it is just that they have nothing to them; they are two-dimensional recordings with flawed sounds (listen to the lame drum slap in the middle of "Affair of the Heart"). These are pedestrian performances from ladies who bowled people over in concert; a version of "Love Under Pressure" is included that sounds like it is stuck in a pressure cooker. There's no mastering credit, but that essential element is thin at best. Girls Night Out's exquisite staple, "When You Were Mine," shows up five years later on the
One True Heart album by
Didi Stewart, and it is total vindication, showing what the songwriter could do away from the confines of a democracy. Bits and pieces of what this phenomenal group was all about have surfaced elsewhere.
Alizon Lissance has released discs with her local group, and other members —
Myanna,
Wendy Sobel, and
Didi Stewart — are off doing their own thing; reunions of this post-
Amplifiers band
Stewart fronted happen once in a blue moon. This writer brought
Didi Stewart to the 1992
Marty Balin sessions in New Hampshire, and
Balin was thrilled at the prospect of
Stewart and her friend,
Ellie Marshall of
the Modern Lovers, singing on his album,
Better Generation. That idea was nixed by
Karen Deal,
Balin's wife, yet another example of people interfering in important art. With the cash that was coming in through the high demand for this group and the combination of originals and covers packing their shows, Girls Night Out should have released a superb album on their own and let a major label pick it up. Seven great artists who should have had original guitarist
Patty Larkin return to jam with
Wendy Sobel on this were left out in the cold when these recordings failed to generate the same excitement as the band did live. The original demo tapes, the
Jimmy Miller sessions with
Sobel, a live radio broadcast or recording from a nightclub, and
Didi Stewart solo material — all combined — could have made this affair memorable. Listening to this decades after it was recorded is still a heartbreak to those who witnessed the excitement of the girls live. This EP is a great excuse for these talented ladies to re-form on their 20th anniversary and create the album they are still capable of putting together.
Jon Butcher Axis
Jon Butcher Axis 1983
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0vfixqt5ldjeJon Butcher is a journeyman guitarist whose
Johanna Wilde band was legendary in the New England region in the late 70's. While the "New Wave" and "Punk Rock" scenes were exploding, Butcher kept to what he did best: mainstream hard rock. By the time this Polydor deal materialized much of his better known tunes had been in circulation for quite some time. "New Man" originally appeared on a 1980/1981 compilation from radio station WCOZ, it opens up side two here, but, like most of the album, is hampered by
Pat Moran's pedestrian production."Cant Be The Only Fool" and "Send One Care Of" lack personality here, the producer and record label failing to polish Jon Butcher's consistent songwriting. Add to that mix the fact that his management company had a falling out with the major concert promoter in his hometown, you have an act that had to move to Los Angeles in order to find an environment more conducive to the creative process. "Life Takes A Life" is haunting here, and may be the best track on the record; "It's Only Words," "Ocean In Motion" and "New Man" were popular live and remain highlights of this record, but the power trio never got to shape their own identity. The crunching chords made Jon Butcher more like
Pete Townshend performing in
The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Like
Robin Trower, Butcher performed in the shadow of
Jimi, good material but not as creative and memorable as the prototype, and without the production and promotion skills of a
Chas Chandler. A decent album that could have been so much more if the people around this artist understood what the music was all about.
Wishes 1987
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fvfoxq95ld6eReviewby Joe Viglione
Jon Butcher says he never should have bet his heart if he "couldn't pay the price" in Wishes, which might be the guitarist's most introspective album and most potent artistic statement. The production by
Butcher and
Spencer Proffer is crisp and elegant. Here's a songwriter controlling his own destiny with help from
Foreigner/
Aerosmith sideman
Thom Gimbel, longtime drummer
Derek Blevins, and bassist
Rob Jeffries. These are all
Jon Butcher originals with one co-write, "A Little Bit of Magic," which has the assistance of a person with one name only,
Raun, from another Pasha/
Spencer Proffer group,
Isle of Man. "Living for Tomorrow" continues the spirit of the first tune, "Goodbye Saving Grace," with the singer's strong voice augmented by guitarmanship finally coming into its own. His musicianship takes a backseat to the song and production though, which is a good thing -- leave the flash for the stage. Wishes has solid statements in each song and throughout the grooves. The old adage "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride" is changed here to "If wishes were horses...then dreamers would ride," written over and under a solitary picture of
Butcher on the inner sleeve. He sounds like
Paul Rodgers on "Holy War" taking much from
the Firm, a group who hit two years before this 1987 disc. "Holy War" takes on
Jimmy Swaggart,
Jerry Fallwell,
Billy Graham, and other evangelists to great effect, while the title track treads on ground more familiar to
Butcher, the music of
Jimi Hendrix. "Wishes" is a wonderful tune which borrows heavily from "The Wind Cries Mary" both lyrically and musically before emerging halfway through as its own entity. "Churinga" closes out side one, a creative instrumental displaying this band's ability to groove. These grooves immediately make their way to side two with "Long Way Home," a blending of percussion and
Jon Butcher's gritty guitar. "Show Me Some Emotion" harkens back to the sound of early
Jon Butcher Axis, with better production than their Polygram debut. The co-write, "A Little Bit of Magic," picks up where "Wishes" left off, and though the lyrics may be the weakest on the disc, the song's climbing guitar evokes
Santana from that guitar star's "She's Not There" period ten years earlier. "A Little Bit of Magic" should have been a big hit. So too "Angel Dressed in Blue," elements of commercial artists from the day blend into the mix, making this a stronger album from
Spencer Proffer than his
Quiet Riot smash three years earlier. Rather than "bang your head," the music here is articulate and determined. "Partners in Crime" and "Prisoners of the Chain" add to this dynamic effort, the final track a hard ballad which would have been a nice direction for
Bad Company. It sounds like that band seeking more modern sounds and closes out an impressive work by a journeyman revising the formula which brought him regional success in the Boston area.
STIFF LITTLE BREEZE Jon Butcher Axs
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:09ftxq9aldheReviewby Joe Viglione
A Stiff Little Breeze is a superb album from
the Jon Butcher Axis, getting straight As in pacing, performance, and material. Jon Butcher personally essays, the tales behind each tune found in the eight-page booklet brimming with photos and rich in band history. As the music crosses decades, Butcher cleverly splashes some of his favorite phrasings throughout the melodies and production, making it very, very appealing. "The Tiger in the Tall Grass" borrows heavily from early
Rod Stewart/
Faces,
Beatles backing vocals, and, most notably,
Paul McCartney's "That Would Be Something" from his first solo album. "Wicked Woman" (the title of a
Janis Joplin bootleg, a fact that couldn't have escaped Butcher's notice) adds some culture shock from what precedes it -- the kind of polished '80s rock that
Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" provided, only this Jon plays it so cool, slipping in a bit of "Purple Haze" into the mix. And speaking of such things, "Red House" is a standout. This artist has certainly come up with enough diverse sounds to separate him from his major influence -- but when he dives into
Hendrix territory, it is with true understanding and wild abandon.
Jimi's friend
Buzzy Linhart heard this version of "Red House" and noted that the tune has become the "Stormy Monday Blues" of the new millennium,
Linhart most impressed with what Butcher did with this often overworked cover. "A Light Texas Rain," like the title track that begins the set, is short, sweet, and gloriously simple. Many Butcher albums have seeds of greatness, but
A Stiff Little Breeze is no mere collection of B-sides and outtakes; it is an impressive blend of this important artist's thoughts, emotions, and performances. "Money" is like some catchy response to
Cyndi Lauper's hit "Money Changes Everything," with a clever aside from Butcher in the liner notes. "Beal St." is
Robert Johnson/
Mick Taylor slide guitar blues, the final of 14 tracks that make up this favorite of all of Jon Butcher's releases. The excellent cover art features the state of Massachusetts on a map that looks like parchment an archaeologist would read from to find hidden treasure. Most appropriate.
An Ocean In Motion Live in Boston 1984 Jon Butcher Axis
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kzfpxqwaldseReviewby Joe Viglione
Jon Butcher cut a path through the Boston rock & roll scene when his
Johanna Wilde band started making some noise as a terrific mainstream act like their contemporary,
Charlie Farren, bucking the "new wave" trend and establishing a presence by staying true to the music's mission.
Johanna Wilde evolved into
Jon Butcher Axis, and that both of his 1980s major label releases on Polydor are out of print in the new millennium certainly leaves a void for fans, of which there were many.
Ocean In Motion: Live In Boston 1984 helps fill that void, despite its flaws. An allegedly "live" CD of vintage
Jon Butcher Axis -- said to be from Boston's The Channel Club in 1984 -- sounds too clean to be recorded in front of an audience. The same loop of applause with an annoying and lengthy whistle comes up in between tracks (most noticeably on an otherwise excellent "Don't Say Goodnight.") The Dayton, Ohio label Atom Records must be commended for getting Butcher's music out there, but it's like that studio version of "Fortune Teller" that
the Rolling Stones tagged on to
Got Live If You Want It!: the fake applause just desecrates otherwise fine music. Seven tunes can be found on the first Polydor LP,
Jon Butcher Axis released in 1983, three also appeared on the follow-up,
Stare At The Sun: the songs "Victims," "Walk On The Moon," and "Don't Say Goodnight," while the 11th title, "Not Fade Away," is a cover of the
Norman Petty/
Charles Hardin song made famous by
The Rolling Stones.
Foreigner's
Thom Gimbel, who performs with
Aerosmith and is producing
Adrian Perry, son of
Joe Perry, appears on all tracks on keys, backing vocals, and saxophone, though he wasn't an official bandmember. Jon Butcher gives anecdotes and impressions about his material in the colorful six-page liner note booklet, and that is very substantial. It's an elegant package chock full of photos and insight. It's too bad there's not a
Jon Butcher Axis live album from the time this group was busy opening for the
J. Geils Band when that ensemble was at the height of their fame. Yes, it's great to have this music available on CD, and maybe
Scott Kinnison and Atom Records will go through the vaults for a broadcast from radio station WCOZ and/or find other material from the day. Just hearing this material again makes one point very clear -- Jon Butcher put together some of the most concise and melodic hard rock/pop tunes from Boston's '70s/early '80s scene, and deserved much more success than he achieved. www.jonbutcher.com is the official web page.
Jon Butcher Axis Live At The Casbah
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kjfuxqyaldseReviewby Joe Viglione
Jon Butcher's first DVD is a rare concert videotaped by
Bob Boyd's crew at The Casbah in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Boyd owned a professional video company which got permission to tape New England bands like
the Neighborhoods,
the Stompers,
the New Models, and many others in the 1980s. This exquisite 75-minute-plus concert is prime Butcher, displaying the man's power, stage presence, and keen sense of rock & roll. More revealing than the CD
Ocean in Motion: Live in Boston 1984, which Atom Records pressed prior to this release, you get to see Jon Butcher's tight band in a fine audiovisual performance --
Foreigner/
Aerosmith keyboard/saxophone player
Thom Gimbel (also the producer of whiz kid
Adrian Perry,
Joe Perry's son); ex-
New Man/
RTZ bassist extraordinaire
Tim Archibald, and longtime Butcher drummer
Derek Blevins. Jon says "Merry Christmas. . .see you in '85" at the end of "When You Were Mine" (not the
Didi Stewart /
Girls Night Out tune from the exact same year), giving the time frame for when this important piece of New England music history happened. It's one of three unreleased tunes that offers longtime fans something extra. There aren't many frills on the DVD, but the audio is excellent, and the camerawork pretty steady -- choppy at some points -- but that just adds to the rock & roll vibe. Nice to watch next to Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight, not because of the eternal comparisons between Jon Butcher and his mentor, but because of the stark differences seen between the two.
Jon Butcher Axis was a band with choreography and a resume for each member that made them more than sidemen. This DVD captures the key compositions -- "New Man" (the name of one of
Tim Archibald's groups), "Life Takes a Life," "It's Only Words," "Ocean in Motion," and more -- with a dynamic show that eclipses some of the singer's studio recordings. Grade A.
New England 1st Album
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xfexqr5ldaeReviewby Joe Viglione
Produced by
Paul Stanley of
Kiss who was also represented by manager Bill Aucoin, this Boston band's debut still stands as their finest. "Hello, Hello, Hello," much like
Alice Cooper's use of
Rolf Kemp's "Hello Hooray," is a nice opener, but the lyrics are more like
Stevie Nicks witchcraft and magic. Song two is the most classic statement made by writer
John Fannon and his group New England. "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya" is perhaps the shortest poem/song on record by
Fannon, but it is his most famous. There are swirling keyboards by
Jimmy Waldo and the precision the band is known for in performance. Like another Boston-based group,
Private Lightning on A&M with their local hit "Physical Speed," these groups were ahead of their time and exploring sounds that were not identified with the city that brought the world
the Modern Lovers,
Aerosmith, and
the Jonzun Crew. But with three albums on a major label, and superb production, New England had a good shot at the brass ring and a tune with all the elements of "hit" in this track. "P.U.N.K." is also a song that generated attention. About a punk, and certainly not punk rock, although the band frequented (and played) the clubs like the Paradise and the Rat, which, no doubt, helped inspire this. "Shall I Run Away" has a great vocal from
Fannon and is the best tune next to "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya" -- mellow with cosmic guitars, a unique sound removed from the
Asia style producer
Mike Stone and the band New England became known for, almost
Roxy Music. And that is where the band could've really made its mark, by being more experimental and less like the arena rock bands of the day. "Alone Tonight" is a great song held back by the "overproduction," to quote the late
Stones producer
Jimmy Miller and his idea of the New England sound. The thick production on this music is incessant. "Nothing to Fear" has hooks a plenty and the voice more prominent; "Shoot" is like a progressive
Black Sabbath riff sped up and gone pop.
Fannons' great ideas and lyrics seem to get lost in some of the instrumentation of "Turn Out the Light." That stage life which
Paul Stanley knows so well from the
Kiss hit "Beth" is the theme of "The Last Show." "Encore" concludes the album with
Fannon almost sounding like
Roger Waters in delivery and idea. New England deserves recognition for years of hard work and the creation of a very important tune from the late '70s. The cover photo has Terminator-style lightning (so did
Private Lightning's cover, of course) and the band being delivered from out the blue.
New England "Explorer Suite"
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:axfexqr5ldaeReviewby Joe Viglione
This sophomore effort by the Boston-based group New England -- produced by
Mike Stone, who also worked with
Queen,
Journey, and
Asia -- is a very large-sounding work by a band that deserved to be as popular as
Stone's other clients. "Honey Money" is certainly not
ABBA; the song's subject is the almighty dollar and its impact on musicians, and the ethereal vocals wrap themselves around a theme that could be delivered to a girlfriend as well as a fellow rocker. "Livin' in the Eighties" has a hard-hitting melody and keyboards that fall somewhere between
Gary Wright and
Brian Eno. "Conversation" has
Nick Lowe-style guitars (much like "Cruel to Be Kind") -- a nice change from the incessant bombast
Stone and bandleader
John Fannon splash on these tunes. It emerges as one of the best tracks on this release. "It's Never Too Late" has a great pop hook, but "Explorer Suite" is the big production number, the "We Will Rock You" showpiece that New England and this album are remembered for. "Seal It With a Kiss" is rife with thick keyboards, backing vocals, and '80s guitar. A renegade "Secret Agent Man" for the '80s, the tune "Hey You're on the Run" sounds like
Triumvirat meeting the band
Boston by way of
the Sweet. "No Place to Go" is as elegant a ballad as
Yes or
Queen could devise, but with more of an edge. New England has that cosmic edge, making the group truly an "underground" darling among arena rock bands, and having a group with this much talent performing at regional clubs was a treat. Bassist
Gary Shea and keyboardist/backing vocalist
Jimmy Waldo would eventually join
Alcatrazz after the breakup of New England, while
Fannon and drummer
Hirsh Gardner got into record production. They all remained personalities on the Boston music scene. Managed by Bill Aucoin (who handled
Kiss) and with major producers and a great sound, it's amazing that the band didn't sell millions of records. Like another regional band,
Riser (produced by
Jack Richardson), New England might have just been in the wrong part of the country for this style of music. Had the band become a bit more avant-garde à la
Eno, New England might have found the larger audience that
Stone helped
U2 garner and that this band sought so passionately. And perhaps this album is too much of a good thing. Where a
Beatles album has ebb and flow, New England hits you with all its artillery. New England's three major label releases, with bonus tracks, are being sold on the internet (http://www.newenglandrocks.com), as is a fourth CD of early material. A reunion album is planned; perhaps on this release the group will find the balance so necessary to finally achieving success.
New England Walking Wild
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfexqr5ldaeReviewby Joe Viglione
If the first album by New England is the band's best musical statement, Walking Wild is where the group could have gone.
Todd Rundgren was the perfect choice to help tone down the ostentatious
Mike Stone sounds, and the magician from
Utopia brings this band a welcome and wonderful blend of progressive music and experimental rock. The very British and very cool "You're There" is the standout; although it never got the attention of the first album's "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya," the second album's "Explorer Suite," and this album's single "DDT" ("Dirty Dream Tonight"), it cries for attention and renewed interest. Great pop backing vocals reminiscent of
Klaatu's "Calling Occupants" -- a hit for
the Carpenters -- make this pure pop song a very satisfying ending to this disc, as creative as Boston area colleagues
the Cars at their best. "L-5" is co-written by
Todd Rundgren, keyboard player
Jimmy Waldo, and singer
John Fannon -- the first time
Fannon is not credited as the sole songwriter (
Rundgren wrote the lyrics, with music by
Fannon/
Waldo). This is a neat science fiction kind of tune that fans of
Todd should seek out. "She's Gonna Tear You Apart" features lyrics by drummer
Hirsh Gardner and music by
Gardner/
Fannon/
Waldo -- three-fourths of the band. It's another change in style with a verse almost like one by
.38 Special, before the band suddenly slips into a
Cars/
Roxy Music motif. The perfect example of
Rundgren's production work being so distinctive from
Mike Stone's is "Elevator," which would almost be punk rock except for the precise big vocal sound and everything being in tune.
Fannon's lyrics are succinct and almost angry, from "He's fashionably mad/Rebel eyes/Fearless type/Raging force" on the title track to "Hit me," the first words in "Holdin' Out on Me."
The Cars sang "You're All I've Got Tonight," and New England countered with "Be my "Dirty Dream Tonight." Walking Wild has found a new life re-released on the GB Music label out of New York City (http://www.newenglandrocks.com). A fourth disc by New England (demos recorded prior to the GB Music deal) has been issued on that label as well, along with reissues of the band's first two discs. Four New England albums is not a lot for such a creative bunch of guys. Keyboard player
Jimmy Waldo and bassist
Gary Shea formed a band called
Alcatrazz after the breakup of the group. Had they been able to develop New England's music for a few more records, they might have been a force to reckon with.
John Fannon's work with Boston area singer/songwriter
Peter Zicko actually has many of the elements that New England forged. Drummer
Hirsh Gardner did much production work in the '80s around the Boston area, and perhaps a disc of his material would give New England fans a bit more insight regarding what might've been.
New England 1978
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kvftxqualdkeReviewby Joe Viglione
New England 1978 provides the world with a glimpse of
John Fannon's music prior to it being put through the rock & roll machine of major labels, major management, and major record producers. Released about 20 years after the band's formation, these ten "demos" are even more sophisticated than
the Cars' early recordings from around the same period, and like those legendary
Ric Ocasek compositions, these early sketches are superb.
Jimmy Waldo's keyboard sound on "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya" is reminiscent of early
Deep Purple from their Tetragrammaton days. If the hit version of this song was overpowering, this original take stands up as a terrific rendition. It very well could have been the hit with its
Cars-ish thumping rhythm guitar and keyboard sweeps. This disc also contains early versions of "Hello, Hello, Hello," "Turn Out the Light," "Shoot," "Nothing to Fear," and "Alone Tonight" from their first, self-titled 1979 debut; one song, "Searchin," from 1980's
Explorer Suite and three previously unreleased titles -- "Candy," "I'll Be There," and "Even When I'm Away." Conceived as a retrospective, the CD captures the spirit of a group that "from 1977 through 1979 rehearsed 8 hours a day and journeyed to a small studio in Philly to record the demos that eventually would result in a recording contract with MCA/Infinity Records," according to the group's drummer. The music once heard only by heads of record labels like
Clive Davis,
Chris Wright, and
Neil Bogart really could have been released as the group's first disc and is as entertaining as any of New England's commercial offerings. "Nothing to Fear" and "Searchin'" both have vocals that sound like
the Beach Boys battling the group
Yes, and that's a compliment. The pop sound of "Don't Worry Baby" combined with the heaviness of "Roundabout" works better than it might sound on paper. The 12-page booklet that comes with the material includes lyrics but not enough background information. With plenty of space on the CD, the almost 38 minutes of music would have been enhanced with a radio interview from the day, or even a new audio of the band telling its story. Regardless, New England 1978 is a real find for both fans and people unaware of the group and its unique blend of ultra-power pop.
New England Greatest Hits Live
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dcfuxq8aldteReviewby Joe Viglione
In the eight-page booklet that accompanies Greatest Hits Live, the first ever live album from 1970s/'80s arena rockers New England, lead singer/frontman
John Fannon notes that "We didn't have a lot of live stuff recorded." A double LP of on-stage performances following the release of their first three studio discs could have been the key to bring New England to that much wider audience enjoyed by
Asia,
Boston, and some of the groups they opened for:
AC/DC,
Journey,
Styx,
Rush, and, of course,
Kiss. Less progressive than
Focus but with enough of a stadium sound to separate them from the underground Massachusetts music community they emerged from, this in-concert disc is heavy with
Jimmy Waldo's keyboards and gives an overview of some of the material the band made popular in the first phase of their major-label experience. As with GB Music's
Baker Gurvitz Army release, this is called Greatest Hits Live, which is a bit misleading. Missing are "Honey Money," "D.D.T." ("be my dirty dream tonight"), and "Walking Wild," arguably among their most familiar tunes, and the group's fan base may have preferred a title like "New England Live, Vol. 1." Surely there must be more tapes out there, and they would be a welcome addition to the suddenly growing New England catalog. The liner notes don't give much information on the source of this recording -- the date, who recorded it, and so on, though
Fannon does mention between songs that it is a second show in San Francisco. All the material from the 1979 self-titled first album except "Turn Out the Light" appears here along with three tunes from 1980's
Explorer Suite -- the title track, "You'll Be Born Again," and "Hey You're on the Run" -- putting this recording in the 1980 time frame.
Fannon saying from the stage, "This is a song off our album. It's called 'Hello, Hello, Hello'," in the singular indicates that this recording may be before the release of
Explorer Suite. The song rocks out live, as does their exquisite hit single from the summer of 1979, "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya." The instruments cut through, and the album is a fairly good representation of the band. They are four musical fellows, so everything is played very much as originally recorded. A lovely "You'll Be Born Again" closes out the dozen-song set on this historically important document of this underrated ensemble. Impressions from the bandmembers and more specifics in the booklet -- which does sport a nice array of photographs -- would have been helpful, but at the end of the day it is the music that has to do the talking, and it is represented here in fine fashion.
New Man
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:09frxqlhld6eReviewby Joe Viglione
New Man was a slick and precise Boston band who performed dance rock in the mid-'80s. Not as avant-garde as their contemporaries
November Group, the self-titled album became more a platform for the individual talents of the bandmembers. Without the commercial songs which catapulted
ABC,
Culture Club,
Spandau Ballet, and similar acts to superstardom, this debut disc stood little chance of success. Everything is recorded and performed to perfection -- a song like "Way Over There" is as emotionless as "Beautiful Rose" or "Bad Boys." What the band really needed was to latch onto a solid cover, as
Stories did with "Brother Louie," a title that could bring this listenable and highly danceable album out of the cutout bins.
Scott Gilman's "Say Your Prayers" and
Tim Archibald's "Love Real" are two of the more memorable pieces, but there is nothing extraordinary that jumps out and makes one crazy to buy the record. "She Can't Let Him Go" has the machine-like thumps that
the Rings put into "Let Me Go," but the difference in those two songs is the difference between a potential hit and a song that is just average. Producer
Joe Mardin appears to have recognized the individual talents of the bandmembers, with
Bob Gay and others appearing on
the Bee Gees'
E.S.P. album that he also produced, while
Tim Archibald hooked up with a Boston band who did climb the Top 40,
RTZ and their album
Return to Zero. The New Man project is likeable enough -- certainly not a bad record -- but it's not a disc by
the Cars or
Tracy Chapman, either. New Man might be the purest example of the importance of the song as a vehicle and the lack of a breakthrough hit immobilizing years of hard work.
Scott Gilman and
Mark Jones do not possess remarkable or distinctive voices either, which added to the dilemma. An instrumental version of this disc could have been fun.
November Group November Group
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0pfixqqhldteReviewby Joe Viglione
This debut by the ex-members of
Wunderkind on a label owned by the record chainNewbury Comics contains five songs and lots of heart. Less derivative than their releases on Braineater and A&M, this is probably November Group in a pure, naïve state. "Pictures of the Homeland" sounds more searching than militant,
Alvan Long's drums very present riding
Ann Prim's precise and novel riff.
Raphael Gasparello is playing the tight elastic bass prior to eventual
Down Avenue musician
Don Foote taking over making this limited edition E.P. a good document of the band while it was refining the dancey bouncy music regional fans loved."Shake It Off" has the hollow vocals that Boston acts like
The Machines were lifting liberally from
Devo, reprised on side two's "We Dance". "Flatland" has the sparse machine gun guitar/keys trade-off and a splashy group chorus of "hey" to break things up, but it is hard to differentiate it from "Pictures Of The Homeland", and that's the major flaw here. Intense, professional and hard working, November Group stayed within the framework of their original concept when that concept should have included, should have demanded, creative growth.They never got out of the techno-rock rut and without melody that monotone vocal might as well have been the hammer and scythe in a machine shop it was emulating. "The Popular Dance", like everything else on this self-titled first effort, is a cool title caught in a redundant carbon copy of a tape loop. It has charm but gets tired by the time you get to the fifth track. Too bad the
Wunderkind 45 wasn't included as a bonus track, the band's earlier incarnation was not as serious, and was at times more powerful. A live album might have captured the magic more effectively than the black and white image this music projected and became in the studio, for November Group was something to be experienced in the dance venues, dark music echoing in dark clubs.
November Group Persistent Memories (1983)
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:apfixqqhldteReviewby Joe Viglione
In the driving "I Live Alone,"
Ann Prim's machine-gun vocal echoes a monotone
Greta Garbo by way of
Marlene Dietrich. The band had a powerful presence live in concert, and lots of angst that gets subdued when translated to vinyl in a studio. Good production work by
Ann Prim and
A. Kirby, who goes by the name of
Kearney Kirby, became the trademark of these warriors. Everything is so serious with November Group -- "Night Architecture" sounds and feels contrived, but that doesn't take away from its beauty. Whether
Prim and
Kirby were doing this as a calculated business move (which MCA recording artist
the Rings appeared to be doing before them) or if these songs emerged because it was their art at the time, isn't the point. For what it is, it is very good. Where an instrumental version of "Put Your Back to It" might have been fun, actually putting an instrumental like "Night Architecture" on a disc is a bit redundant. All this techno rock seems to work well sans vocals on the dancefloor anyway -- and the voice takes so long to kick in on "Heart of a Champion" that side two is very much like one long dance mix. "Heart of a Champion" is excellent, though it shows the group's limitations; of all their material it sounds the most dated. This is
Devo in a very serious light. "Heart of a Champion" is "Whip It" with a longer chorus. It is the first track, "Put Your Back to It," which is the hit. This is the original long version of a song they would re-record for their A&M Records disc,
Work That Dream.
Don Foote on vocals and bass, and
Alvan Long, the drummer who appeared on the first November Group EP, left for their own group shortly after this. Although not very original, these are good sounds worth finding and dancing to again.
November Group (A & M Records) Work That Dream 1985
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:g9fyxqlhld6eReviewby Joe Viglione
When
the Ann Prim Band performed around Boston in the late '70s, they were a blues outfit. The guitarist/vocalist re-emerged and re-invented her sound with a band called
Wunderkind, which evolved into November Group. This six-song release on A&M came after a four-song outing on Braineater Records titled
Persistent Memories in 1983, and another six-song recording on Modern Method in 1982. "Arrows Up to Heaven" on this disc is peppered with
the Jonzun Crew's timeless "Tonight," flavored with
Peter Godwin's "Images of Heaven," and it sounds great. "The Promise" is some mixture of "Some Like It Hot," the 1985 hit from
Power Station -- it's the same chorus, in fact, and has
ABC's "Look of Love" keyboard riff and a splash of
After the Fire's 1983 smash "Der Kommissar." Talk about mopping riffs -- these gals make
Randy Bachman and
Ric Ocasek, men who admit to nicking other's people's music, look clandestine by comparison. "Careful (A Life Is a Fragile Thing" is blatant
Eurythmics. As serious as November Group was, the blues-rock so essential to
Prim as an artist was absorbed by the hip sounds of the day. "Work That Dream" was released as an A&M single and featured a six-minute instrumental version and a five-minute extended mix. Recorded in Frankfurt, Germany, by producer
Peter Hauke, the music is first-class, but the real hit is "Put Your Back to It," a two-minute shorter version of the song that was released on Braineater two years prior to this. Like some soundtrack to the film Metropolis, Work That Dream stands as a professional and entertaining set of sounds from an '80s band that deserved international airplay.
Private Lightning
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3xftxqy5ldjeReview
by Joe Viglione
The tremendous music created in Boston, despite the overwhelming financial success of
Aerosmith,
the Cars,
Bobby Brown,
New Edition,
New Kids on the Block, and others, never received the respect and opportunity afforded other cities like Seattle, New York, Memphis, and San Francisco. Private Lighting is another case of a band with depth and an overabundance of talent, not getting a fair shake. "Physical Speed" opens this album with the ultimate car song. The theme of
Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner" reactivated by a band well versed with driving on America's Technology Highway, Route 128. Vocalist
Adam Sherman performed the song over the same backing tracks in French. That version, "Vitesse Physique," never made it to the disc, but received airplay in New England. Originally produced by songwriter
David Wolfert, who also recorded
Peter Criss' 1980 solo disc,
Out of Control, at Air Studios, Montserrat, A&M pulled
Wolfert from these sessions and the disc ended up being produced and engineered by
Robin Geoffrey Cable. The curse of not releasing the demos strikes again. Clearly, the label did not have faith in the original producer, yet the band's versions of "Song of the Kite" and "Physical Speed" got lots of local airplay in the Boston area, as did the tapes by
the Cars before them. This unique band, featuring the violin of
Patty Van Ness, the songs and guitar of
Paul Van Ness,
Sherman's distinctive voice, augmented by keys, bass, and drums provided by
Eric Kaufman,
Steve Keith, and
Scott Woodman respectively, knew how to record their music. The demos have a bite that is missing on this re-creation. Still, the album has merit.
Adam Sherman's "Heartbeat" has tension, has drive. The drums don't have the greatest sound in the world and they are up in the mix, Ã la
Roy Thomas Baker's vision of
the Cars. That sound hampers "Bright City" and the rest of the disc.
John Cale would have been the perfect producer for this group. He understands string work in a rock context, and his A&R and production work for everyone from
the Modern Lovers to
Jennifer Warnes and
Nico could have brought this mix together successfully. A song like "Cultists of True Fun" demanded that kind of eccentric professionalism. Managed by
Fred Heller, who didn't seem to know what to do with
Mott the Hoople, this is a band that should have enjoyed the success that
J. Geils and the aforementioned
Cars worked hard for and achieved. A truly original sound, songs like "Side of the Angels" needs power rather than the homogenization here. Singer
Adam Sherman came to Boston from New York when post-
Lou Reed Velvet Underground member
George Nardo invited him to be part of
the Rockets, a band represented by
Velvets manager
Steve Sesnick. In 2001,
Sherman found a song of his covered by ex-
Modern Lover Elliot Murphy and
Ian Matthews of
Matthews Southern Comfort on their duo disc, proving good talent does get recognized, but also proving that record labels and management can inhibit musical growth. This album is a testament to great music being shipwrecked by the business. You can hear through the production flaws, though, and the magic, somehow, bursts through.
Robin Lane & The Chartbusters
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jjfixqugld6e~T1Biography
by Joe Viglione
Robin Lane & The Chartbusters emerged in 1979 when the backing vocalist/guitarist on the song "Round & Round" from
Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album landed an album deal of her own with
Larry Uttal's Private Stock Records and needed a band. The daughter of
Dean Martin's musical director,
Kenny Lane, told AMG: "I as an x-hippie chick went looking for my knights in Rat punkdom during the summer of 1978." She was hanging out at the legendary Boston nightclub The Rat in Kenmore Sq. and "lured" the musicians in with the recording contract offer from the label which had put out records by
Blondie and
Frankie Valli, an imprint which folded before they could record. The band thought she was "cute and cheeky" and they loved her songs, so they decided to stick with her and wait it out until they got another record deal, which didn't take too long.Personally managed by
Mike Lembo before she hooked up with
Modern Lovers Leroy Radcliffe and
Asa Brebner along with drummer
Tim Jackson and bassist
Scott Baerenwald (a member of Boston '70's pioneers
Reddy Teddy as well as the live touring band for
The Archies ), Lembo had secured Robin a record deal with Private Stock and a publishing contract with Leeds Music, later MCA Music, now Universal. "He managed a friend of mine,
Peter C. Johnson, half man - half tape....who was using art and tape in his live performances way before what was normal" Lane told All Media Guide.The Chartbusters tracked a demo tape at Northern Studios featuring the original "When Things Go Wrong", "Why Do You Tell Lies" and "The Letter" (a different song than
The Box Tops hit and an excellent tune. ) A local disc jockey suggested they make a single out of the recordings, so manager
Mike Lembo created a label, Deli Platters, and the 3 song EP was released with a black and white picture sleeve selling a phenomenal amount of copies in New England and on the East Coast, with tons of free press coming from the venture.Guitarist
Asa Brebner's web page notes that Robin Lane & The Chartbusters signed to Warner Brothers by
Jerry Wexler. Two videos were made along with two albums and a live EP between 1980 and 1981. Lane told AMG years later that "We should have stuck to the grass roots, but who knew? ....we were blinded by the stars in our eyes." One example of how tough it was "when things go wrong", as her minor hit went, was when they recorded the 5 song live EP at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. "the kids were banging on the doors (of the theater) where we were to be recorded...there was no sound check for us, utter pandemonium erupted ...they recorded us and put it out ... no overdubs, no nothing". Exit guitarist
Leroy Radcliffe and The Chartbusters dissolved though Robin re-appeared with a techno/rock EP in 1984 entitled
Heart Connection. It was the original group with the additions of keyboardist
Wally J. Baier and
Willie "Loco" Alexander & The Boom Boom Band guitarist
Billy Loosigian. The "grass roots" approach that appeals to Robin so much made
Heart Connection as entertaining as the original three song EP on Deli Platters which started it all.During their time away from each other the individual members kept busy, Robin wrote songs for notable artists and in 1995 released a critically acclaimed CD,
Catbird Seat.
Asa Brebner embarked on a solo career while
Tim Jackson began teaching at a college, but in the cyclical world of music comrades often reunite and in 2001 in a Boston suburb, The Chartbusters got on stage again, captured on video by a local television program. More gigs followed and a new album, cleverly titled
When Things Go Right - a take off on their signature tune - found itself being recorded with new guitarist
Pat Wallace taking the place of
Radcliffe on second guitar. The re-release of the group's first, self-titled Warner Brothers album coincidentally materialized on the Collectors Choice label with liner notes by AMG's
Richie Unterberger around the time of the recording of the 2002 reunion disc. Robin Lane teaches in Western Mass, began a seminar, "Giving Youth A Voice", and has written a biography with all the details of her legendary Boston band, The Chartbusters. Her web page is
http://www.randomrogue.com/robinlane.
1980 Robin Lane & The Chartbusters debut
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xfoxqq5lddeReview
by Joe Viglione
Her three song EP on manager
Mike Lembo's Deli Platters label, featuring "The Letter" (an original not recorded for this album), "Why Do You Tell Lies," and "When Things Go Wrong," reportedly sold in excess of 10,000 units, many in the Northeast. Robin Lane's Warner Brothers debut was produced by
Joe Wissert and features the musicianship of
Asa Brebner and
Leroy Radcliffe on guitars,
Tim Jackson on drums, and
Scott Baerenwald on bass. With alum from
Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers and all band members singing, they had the elements for mega success. These songs are all great, but the
Wissert production stripped the band of what made them so popular in the Boston area. The three guitar attack onstage sounded like
The Byrds with a superb female vocalist. The lack of guitar in the middle of "Don't Cry" with just an annoying cymbal ride is the kind of sparse production which turned a powerful act into a low-key
Pretenders on record. That's the problem when a record label doesn't understand the nuances of great musicians and the are they are creating. Warner released a five song EP of the band recorded live at the Orpheum Theater in Boston in 1980, sold at a special price — kind of admitting that the first album lacked the magic the band generated in performance. The live EP, produced by
Michael Golub, captures some of that sparkle, but it too misses the mark with the guitars mixed way down. Hearing a song like "Why Do You Tell Lies" on the studio recording, without the lush guitar sound it cries out for, is discouraging. This is a band that deserved to craft pop hits for radio and were never given the proper chance. The songwriting and musicianship breaks through the thin production, and you can hear the potential. "Many Years Ago" and "Waiting in Line" actually sound very '90s, the high end and the hollow sound would actually come into vogue years later. But that's not what this band was about. There are some great songs here, especially "When Things Go Wrong." One can only hope someone comes along to record this material in a way that it can be appreciated by the masses. "Be Mine Tonite" is heavier, but still feels restrained. The inner sleeve contains the lyrics and some very cool snapshots of the band.
Imitation Life
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by Joe Viglione
The bane of many a band from Boston is the curse of bad record production, and that curse struck
Robin Lane & the Chartbusters perhaps more than any other group. Where
the Atlantics and
Private Lightning only got one opportunity, Warner afforded
the Chartbusters two albums and a five-song live EP. All three featured phenomenal songs that were not recorded by the label with the love and care that the artist deserved. The three-song EP, released on manager
Mike Lembo's Deli Platters label, had all the elements that pointed to stardom for Robin Lane. A great original entitled "The Letter," not the song performed by
Alex Chilton and
the Box Tops, did not get re-recorded by Warner Bros., and the sound is dramatically different from the slick treatment "Rather Be Blind" gets on this album, Imitation Life. "Solid Rock," resplendent in
Flaming Groovies riffs and girl group possibilities, gets lost in
Gary Lyons souped up engineering.
Tim Jackson's drums sound lightweight, and there are more references to angels, like the very
Patti Smith-sounding first track on this album, "Send Me an Angel." Where the bands self-titled debut the year before should have had more of the lush
Byrds twelve-string guitar sounds, this album takes the group even further from that format. The guitar solo on "Pretty Mala" is almost heavy metal, so far removed from what this group was all about. The band had its own identity, but the attempts to get it to sound like
the Patti Smith Group by way of
the Pretenders strips away the heart and soul of a truly creative entity. Drummer
Tim Jackson co-writes "Idiot" with Lane, and it is one of the strongest tracks on the disc. With better production it would have hit single written all over it. It has a neat little guitar riff, summery pop melody, and easy vocals by Lane. Just a year later she would put backing vocals on
Andy Pratt's superb
Fun in the First World album produced by
the Chartbusters' guitarist
Leroy Radcliffe, who was also Lane's significant other for awhile.
Radcliffe's production of
Andy Pratt is everything this album needed, exactly what is missing on songs like "For You," the moody final track with Lane's beautifully melancholic vocal set somewhere between the instruments and not far up enough in the mix, too many effects keeping the words from being distinctive. The first album's inner sleeve contained all the lyrics, and this second LP has etchings by guitarist
Asa Brebner, which, although humorous, might've been better as a promo.
Brebner's solo album,
I Walk the Streets, released almost 20 years later, contains the sounds that should've been inserted into these grooves. "Rather Be Blind" is a driving pop tune with guitars that cry to sparkle and sound so subdued and lost in some reverb quagmire. This album is a heartbreaker, such a great performance lost in the mix. Producer
Gary Lyons worked with
Foreigner,
Queen, and
the Outlaws, a prescription that makes for an album as hard to take sonically as
Extreme's first major label disc. "What the People Are Doing" has a great spy movie guitar riff and haunting vocals, the guitar bursts at the end of the song really striking. It's an epic that fades into the
Ramones-ish title track, "Imitation Life." Robin Lane's vision was stifled by poor recording and imitation art that the band and she cannot be blamed for. Imitation Life, by producer
Gary Lyons, and
Joe Wissert's ideas for the first album,
Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, were forces that did nothing to further this important group's career. The song "Say Goodbye" is classic Robin Lane, and Warner Bros. should invest in remixing both these potentially classic albums for compact disc. There are great songs here that could be rerecorded decades later by artists in need of hits.
5 Live
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kxfoxqq5lddeReview
by Joe Viglione
Coming in between the first album,
Robin Lane & The Chartbusters and 1981's
Imitation Life was this five song E.P. from Warner Brothers which included a cover of what was an FM hit for
The Who and an AM hit for
The Guess Who,
Johnny Kidd's Shakin' All Over, it not so coincidentally follows Robin Lane's song about an earthquake, 8.1. The band was one of Boston's best live acts, with some of the members having gone through rigorous regimentation at the hands of the brilliant and equally difficult
Jonathan Richman as his
Modern Lovers. This is the best production of the three platters on Warner Brothers, but it still fails to capture that sweeping
Byrds meets
Flamin' Groovies sound which made Robin so very popular in Boston. This is the fourth version of When Things Go Wrong to find its way onto vinyl, two studio versions by
The Chartbusters and one by the
Pousette Dart Band failed to get the national attention the song deserves. Robin Lane's voice is shot, the liners noting that this was recorded at "the end of a grueling summer tour that took the band over 14,000 miles of highway". It sounds it. Had Warner Brothers taped the group prior to the tour in a small Boston club where they ruled, they would have captured the nuances of Robin Lane's beautiful voice, and the sparkling musicianship which truly broke new ground for a Boston band. They were one of the best and their major label marriage failed to document what the band was all about. Lost My Mind, When You Compromise and 8.5 are originals not on either studio album, and the band sounds more like the
B52's performing on the big Orpheum stage. That beautiful condensed sound is enlarged here, and Robin Lane sounds like a female
Fred Schneider on some of this, through no fault of her own. This remains an important document of an important time. Still, it would have been nice to have more of the concert on this disc, with a better mix. Even the addition of the group's original 3 song demo could have made this medium priced project a tool to break this essential band with.
til tuesday
Private Lightning
COMPILATIONS
LIVE AT THE METRO Press A Dent Records
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by Joe Viglione
Not to be confused with Live at the Metro by
the Legendary Pink Dots from 1999, this 1981 compilation, sponsored by radio station WBCN, was the brainchild of advertising executive Sam Uvino and was in response to competing station WCOZ's
The Best of the Boston Beat series. Playing catch-up, WBCN endorsed an additional album,
A Wicked Good Time, Vol. 2 released by local record retailer Newbury Comics.
Someone & the Somebodies start things off, the only band represented on both WBCN discs, while
the Stompers close out side one, that band also being represented on WCOZ's
The Best of the Boston Beat, Vol. 1 and
The Best of the Boston Beat, Vol 2. The dynamics (or politics) of the two competing stations certainly had an impact on how the Boston scene, already damaged from the ridiculous "Bosstown Sound" of the '60s, was perceived outside the city limits. That WBCN allowed fake applause to be added to this disc is reprehensible, but the studio owner where the tapes were mastered (uncredited here, but it was the Sound Design facility in Burlington where
the Lines often recorded) fessed up to it. If you can ignore the stadium applause on a disc taped at a 1500-seat venue, you can enjoy some of the music by
City Thrills,
Someone & the Somebodies,
the Stompers, and
Private Lightning. Keep in mind The Metro used to be the legendary Ark/Boston Tea Party, evolved into a gay bar known as Cabaret, turned into Boston-Boston and 15 Lansdowne Street over the years, with dominance in the '80s while known as The Metro. It was the happening place for bigger bands during the week, and morphed into a disco on weekend nights. Live at the Metro contains early work by the original
Lines, featuring members who would go on to form
the Swinging Steaks, some of
Sal Baglio's choice tracks with his
Stompers, and material from rock critic
Tristram Lozaw when his band,
Someone & the Somebodies, were happening.
The New Models come off as pretentious and drab,
Casey Lindstrom lost without his producer
Ric Ocasek to inject some life into uninspired material. But
Barb Kitson and
Johnny "Angel" Carmen rock on "Don't Come Back" and "Last to Know," the former WERS DJ
Kitson tossing the "F" word nonchalantly as only she can. Their band comes out unscathed, as do
the Stompers, in a strange merging of mainstream and underground styles. In theory, this was a good idea, but WBCN did a very poor job of documenting the scene's important music, and the result is a curious artifact that doesn't respect the artists performing on the disc or the scene in general.
Carter Alan, who should know better, probably cringes now that he put his name on the liner notes to this. Despite WCOZ's inconsistent choice of musicians, that radio station wins the battle when it comes to integrity on these compilation discs. Fake applause, sheesh. What ever happened to having respect for art? From the community that launched the brilliant
Live at the Rat and the important
Live at Jacks albums, much more was expected, and the potential for something very special went unrealized.
1981 Press A Dent Records 616717
WCOZ
THE BEST OF THE BOSTON BEAT
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by Joe Viglione
Boston radio station WCOZ went to number one in the '70s when radio programmer John Sebastian (no relation to
the Lovin' Spoonful's singer) created his
Led Zeppelin format. Thanks to the energies and devotion of DJ Leslie Palmiter and her "Boston Beat" Sunday night radio program, music from the New England region obtained airplay on this 50,000 watt mega station on 94.5 FM (replaced years later by dance and rap Top 40), a signal as instrumental in the breaking of
the Cars' demo, "Just What I Needed," as the rival WBCN. This 1979 release is a real time capsule and despite the flaws — a few suburban bands who lack sparkle and innovation — there are some rarities by groups who went on to national prominence.
Johanna Wild became
Jon Butcher Axis and their "Suzanne" was a Boston area classic, the antithesis of the new wave so important to 1979, but still relevant.
Rick Berlin's original
Luna is here, and he's listed as
Rick Kinscherf, but the 45 RPM "Hollywood" from the notorious
Jay Mandel production sessions which cost the band a deal with Cleveland International is included here, the natural extension of
Orchestra Luna gone rock. There's a live tape of
the Stompers, who would later sign with Boardwalk, recorded February 13, 1979, at the Paradise Theater — the band is always more energetic live. A pivotal track from
the Atlantics is "I'm Hooked" — it was the band with original guitarist
Jeff Locke, who was their essential pop songwriter. He was replaced by
Fred Pineau when the band signed a label deal and released
Big City Rock, so this is one of the few places to find music from the original act, who were one of the biggest draws in their day. When you look at the lineup of
Johanna Wild,
the Fools,
the Atlantics,
Thundertrain,
the Stompers,
the Johnny Barnes Group, and
Luna you are seeing an impressive roster which could have put 5,000 people in a hall if presented on one bill; they were all that popular.
Thundertrain's version of
the Standells' "Dirty Water" is classic. It is not on their 1977
Teenage Suicide LP; this song was released two years later with blues master
James Montgomery on harp and with production by
Duke & the Drivers'
"Earthquake" Morton. Five years later,
Aerosmith's
Joe Perry would record "Dirty Water" with a band called
the Lines, while
Mach Bell was
Perry's lead singer on MCA Records, that coincidence making this release all the more historically important.
Bell's insane vocals on the WCOZ compilation — rambling about "the Boston strangler" and such — give his version the edge, even over that West Coast band
the Standells.
Joanne Barnard's "Don't Break My Heart" is wonderful pop recorded out at Long View Farm, as was the
Thundertrain track. Permanent Press record exec
Ray Paul shows up with an interesting "Lady Be Mine Tonight" which features local scenester
Mr. Curt Naihersey. All in all, this is one of the better time capsules of Boston music and the first of three compilation albums from radio station WCOZ.
1979 LP WCOZ L331021
The Best Of The Boston Beat Vol. 2
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kpftxqyhld0eReview
by Joe Viglione
Radio stations sponsoring compilations of local recording groups was the rage in the '80s, and some important musical time capsules were created. When acts hit from those discs, those time capsules turned into collectors' items. The first volume of now-defunct radio station WCOZ's The Best of the Boston Beat (named after DJ Lesley Palmiter's excellent Sunday night local music program) was issued on WCOZ Records, manufactured by Infinity Records, in 1979 (the station's major competition, by the way, was Infinity Broadcasting). This second set, released in 1981, is on the Starsteam label out of Houston, TX. Starstream Records/Big Music America may have been a company which specialized in radio station LP projects, as the disc came with a ballot for voting on the album's best track and there was a national 25,000 dollar grand prize and a "record contract" (no specifics other than that). "Big Music America has gone into major cities all across the country to solicit tapes," is the claim on the back cover. Years after the regional album's creation, no such "battle of the bands" mentality is necessary. Classic tracks by
the Jon Butcher Axis,
Balloon (who featured future
Joe Perry Project lead singer
Charlie Farren), soon-to-be Boardwalk recording artists
the Stompers, along with
Johnny Barnes and a band with future producer
Chris Lannon as guitarist,
Midnight Traveller, give the album credibility the contest could not. Musically, the best tracks are "Shutdown" from
the Stompers, "Roll Me" from
Johnny Barnes featuring the gifted
Craig Covner on guitar,
Charlie Farren singing "Political Vertigo," and a classic early rendition of "New Man" by
the Jon Butcher Axis, more driving than the remake on their Polygram debut.
Anne English gets a nice runner-up status with "All I'm Waiting for Is You," while the other artists provide a snapshot of a moment in Boston music history. "Rock on the Radio" by
Mark Williamson and
American Teen is mainstream hard pop, while
Midnight Traveller travels that same road. It's a good thing the tracks were not put back to back, as they sound very similar. Keep in mind, this is when radio programmer
John Sebastian (not the singer/songwriter) brought WCOZ to 9.1 in the ratings by offering the world a steady diet of
Led Zeppelin. That was the format of the station and this second volume reflects the album rock mindset.
Powerglide is another band who made some noise, but like the aforementioned
American Teen and
Midnight Traveller, they were not part of what was considered the "underground" of the day.
The Stompers,
Jon Butcher,
Balloon with
Charlie Farren, and
Johnny Barnes were able to cross into both arenas — the suburban club scene as well as the Boston rock & roll crowd — but none of these groups were totally embraced by the world where
the Nervous Eaters,
Willie Alexander,
the Real Kids, and other members of the
Live at the Rat clique performed and/or caused trouble. This album's lack of music from that world is a drawback — the artists who got airplay on DJ Palmiter's show were not fully represented by 'Coz's Rock 'n' Roll Album: The Best of the Boston Beat, Vol. 2.
Trapper,
the Smith Brothers, and
Witch One may have names that evaporated as quickly as their respective careers as bands did; their inclusion is a departure from the first volume, which had an impressive nine artists of the 12 being those who were more firmly established, but the "I exist therefore I am" philosophy earns them their place when someone picks up this rare collection and gets to hear some voices from the past. When you put this collection alongside
Wayne Wadhams' 1975
Chef's Salad compilation and the
Live at Jacks and
Live at the Rat recordings, along with other collections of local music, you get a better focus. There were three compilations in radio station WCOZ's series before they changed call letters and went dance music/rap.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARREN SCOTT of THE CHANNEL
Warren Scott of THE CHANNEL Profile in Medford Transcript
Music maker
By Joe Viglione/ Correspondent
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Warren Scott
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Check out Dinky Dawson's CHANNEL website
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Scott managing Chevalier venue
Warren Scott has close to three decades of experience as one of the major booking agents in New England. As talent buyer for The Channel nightclub, he brought national and international acts into the Boston area. Two of Roy Orbison's last three performances before his passing were at The Channel; Greg Kihn had the room completely jammed when "Jeapordy" was a hit in 1983, while local legends Rick Berlin: The Movie and Girls Night Out featuring Didi Stewart were able to bring a huge audience into a Boston venue and generate the stir that made them two of the areas most exciting artists.
Today the city of Medford hosts Scott's company, Boston Event Works, managing the prestigious Chevalier Theatre. The Marvelettes, Shirley Alston Reeves, local heroes New England and The Fools, all participated in recent memorable nights at the historic concert hall. The same hall, which, in the past, has also hosted immortal names such as Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy.
Recently, Scott sat down for a Q&A about his business and managing the Chevalier.
Q: Warren, when did you open Boston Event Works?
A: 2002
Q: Concerted Efforts used to be located on Salem Street in Medford, John Gentile and Mickey O'Halloran worked in the suburbs in the 70s - Mickey working out of Mass. Ave in Arlington. How do you find working five miles north of Boston compared to Boston proper, and how has Medford responded to having a major booking agency within the city limits?
A: You don't necessarily need to be in a metro city to run an office like BEW. With phones and e-mail, you could be anywhere as long as you are in touch and in tune to the needs of the market you are servicing.
It's great to be here in Medford, it supplies a great business atmosphere with location and local amenities, especially being located in the Chevalier Theater; it's a natural fit.
Q: Warren, you've certainly worked some of the finest rooms in New England. The Pia Zadora show at the Opera House that you were involved with was a real treat. Here's this movie actress in films that weren't memorable onstage with Sinatra's band and holding her own. She brought the house down if I recall.
Would it be fair to say that the Chevalier is as acoustically perfect as the Opera House, and as important to this region?
A: Most definitely, it's a beautiful room. Acoustically it's perfect, not a bad seat in the house, a beautiful structure, with as many seats to challenge any national concert hall.
Q: Could you introduce us to the staff of Boston Event Works?
A: Well I'm not as "news shy" as they may be, but we have a full-time staff with Julie in administration, Kevin and Ron in the contemporary club booking department, Aaron heads up the college division, Dave in the wedding and me at the helm of special events. Then we have show production managers that work out of the office producing the shows and events we put together for clients all over the USA.
http://www.townonline.com/medford/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=624580&format=&page=2
Music maker
[continued from previous page]
Q: You have a large roster of artists. Who are some of the most in-demand performers you represent?
A: Good question, and me not being right in the contemporary department, I'll try to answer ...Let's see, Boston Event Works represents, Audible Mainframe, Eclective Collective, The Well, The Brightwings, NBFB, Gordon Stone Band, Fungus Amungus, Sucka Brown, Parker House & Theory, VINX, Oneside, Arcoda, Lucy Vincent, Ramoniacs, Jumpstreet.
Q: The region has changed dramatically since the 1970s with The Rathskellar, The Kenmore Club, The Club in Cambridge, The Channel, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Jack's in Cambridge and other vital clubs fading into memory.
What are your thoughts on the changing marketplace?
A: It's happening too fast and without care for the music industry itself. Music is a driving force in many people's lives, whether it's recorded or live, and it's the live portion of music Boston metro is lacking.
There is swiftly becoming far too few live entertainment stages. For a region this large, the amount of actual viewing space for start-up, new bands, is small. We've got a fair amount of large venues to see nationals but the younger bands are sacrificing terribly.
There is just nowhere to play, far less rooms are functioning now from even five to 10 years ago. One time there were 20 plus moderate sized clubs that presented live music, what are there now, six, eight??
If you are a band who is releasing a new product and wants to showcase in a strong 400-seat room, it's tough to find. If the room is out there, if you don't mind waiting three months to get a slot. (Problem is) the production (professional lights and sound) is not.
Again, a lessening support for live music.
Q: Malden has My Honey Fitz, Arlington's "Right Turn" has major acts in for charity events, do you think a nightclub in Medford, or a consistent music presence at the Chevalier, is something the suburbs are ready for?
A: It's always up to the city. A regular rotation of events at The Chevalier would work as long as the interval of time between shows worked.
Q: What are Boston Event Works immediate goals?
A: To continue to grow, booking the hottest bands into (what's left of) the clubs in this region, allowing us to bring visiting businesses and corporations to this area the best entertainment with the best and newest production.
Q: What fun things can Medford residents look forward to from the Chevalier?
A: We've got a bunch of events happening - Brendon from Nashville will be in for three nights, Whoopie Goldberg will be visiting in April and the region's best theatrical shows on the Chevalier large stage.
Q: Boston Event Works specializes in all aspects of live music presentation, event management and promotional support. How do you choose the entertainment?
A: Besides the many national attractions we work with, the locals and regionals are decided on by reviewing websites and promotional packages they submit to the agency.
http://www.townonline.com/medford/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=624580&format=&page=3
Music maker
[continued from previous page]
For people interested in submitting material, the address is: Warren Scott Boston Event Works PO Box 180 Medford, MA 02155 (PH) 781-395-1732 (FX) 781-395-1733.
Q: Would you kindly give us some of your most memorable moments in rock & roll in the Boston area.
A: Working the Sarah Vaughn and Muddy Waters show at Berklee Performance Center, one of my first was unbelievable, Fela Kuti at The Hynes, Bunnie Wailer at The Wang Center, Ray Charles at Lynn Auditorium, Frank Zappa at Winter Island in Salem, The Ramones at The Main Event in Lynn (a.k.a. "The Harbor House") circa 1978; The Repacements, Miles Davis, Pobert Palmer, Morrissey at The Opera House, Bo Diddley and Roy Orbison double header in Volvo Tennis Chamionship opening, John Denver, same place, different night, or Jerry Lee Lewis: who admitted some profound news to (former Globe critic)Jim Sullivan and I, Divine and John Waters, Jello Biafra & the Dead Kennedy's whos name was changed to The DK's per order of The State House, Cameo, Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel who when I paid, showed me who was in charge by using a 38 for a paper weight, The Gap Band, Charlie Watts Orchestra, The Young Snakes, Johnny Thunders, Billy Bragg, Dwight Youkum, Ian Dury and the Blockheads who opened up for an unknown John Cougar, Wendy O & The Plasmatics (no ping pong balls), Joan Jett, The Slits, Big Black, The Speedies, Motorhead, Meatloaf, Eisterzende Neubarton, Alice in Chains, Fine Young Cannibals with a fire alarm, everybody left the club then everybody went back in, there where 2000 people there that night, James Brown, who I had to talk into not flying back to Detroit because of his suite, it was at the embassy suites hotel in Allston and he was told him it was a full $3,000 suite, come to find out , it cost $149, Getting drunk with AC/DC; when I drank...George Clinton and The P-Funk Allstars, Iggy Pop, Pere Ubu, Gary Glitter, The GoGo's, Thompson Twins, Gary Newman, GNO, Freddie Kruger, Freddie McGregor, English Beat; our House Band, The Birthday Party, John Cale, JJ Cale, Tony Bennett, The Cramps at Halloween, multiple years in a row, Putting together the first ever Spinal Tap performance (and they did 4 shows!), Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones again & The Mysterians, The Jam, Dennis Brown, Sly and Robbie, B-52's regular yearly X-Mas gigs, Phillip Glass, and Goo Goo Dolls who I used to pay $400 a night ... all happened at the best nightclub America has seen...The Channel.
Thanks for sharing those memories with us, Warren.
Remember! To click on any chapter go to this address:
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BERLIN AIRLIFT 1980
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Review by Joe Viglione
Released eight years after the brilliant Orchestra Luna album on Epic, the eclectic music of Rick Berlin takes a more pop aim, which can be described as "progressive underground." Emerging from the same Boston scene as Willie Alexander and the Nervous Eaters, the commercial local hits "It's You I Love," "Over The Hill," and "Don't Stop Me From Crying" garnered them a huge audience, while tunes like "Can I Fall in Love" and "Airlift" were explorations in stretching the boundaries. Taking the Beatles into Journey's arena rather than the world of the Velvet Underground, this album is actually producer Bill Pfordresher's re-working of an album cut when the band was known as the original Luna. They had dropped the Orchestra from the name and replaced Randy Roos with Steven Paul Perry, giving the band a harder edge. The "Hollywood" 45 was released in between Orchestra Luna and Berlin Airlift under the name Luna. The band had a deal in hand with Cleveland International (yet another CBS label -- this album as well as the former were on CBS affiliated labels) but the producer of Luna held out for too much money, keeping the band from signing, and changing history. This album would be dramatically different had the original Luna tapes seen the light of day. Also, "Don't Stop Me From Crying," a driving ballad with superb vocals that Queen made popular, was pretty established locally, making it difficult to re-launch a song people were already familiar with. Aerosmith faced this when "Dream On" charted twice nationally, once because of Boston airplay, and later because other cities picked up on it. Berlin Airlift, its wonderful music aside, is a perfect example of politics interfering in the recording process. It, unfortunately, is a big part of this album's legacy. The film themes run throughout, as usual. The album's back cover dressed up like a frame from celluloid, and the line "sad movies they take me away" makes the emphasis. The incessant chant of "Don't Stop Me" is a grabber, and not your usual radio hook. Rick Kinscherf Berlin's lyrics are direct and controversial as well as innovative. "Over the Hill" is the reverse of Gary Puckett's "Young Girl," about an older man, out "to rob the cradle," dating a seventeen year old. Stevie Knicks worked that theme as well, but, somehow, a woman going there isn't as frightening for radio programmers as men in a spring/summer fling. The song was a big smash in Boston, but Handshake Records was busy putting out the Pope's spoken word disc, which might've been a financial detriment -- executive Ron Alexenburg's label went by the wayside, further affecting this effort. Jane Balmond's keyboards and Rick Berlin's performances are nicely complemented by Steven Paul Perry's Mick Ronson-style guitar, and tunes like "My Heart Ain't Big Enough for You" and "It's You I Love" bring the original Orchestra Luna concept to a place where rock fans can appreciate it without having to think too much. Despite its production flaws, the sound is a bit thinner than the band was used to, and some of the material having been overworked, Berlin Airlift is still a very good document of an important band. They would re-emerge as Rick Berlin: The Movie after this, recording more radio-friendly songs, many of which have yet to see the light of day. Epic/Legacy would be wise to combine Orchestra Luna and Berlin Airlift with some of the more popular rarities on a single CD as vital early work from Rick Berlin, who continues to write, record, and perform his unique musical vision.
RICK BERLIN LIVE AT JACQUES
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"The monster arrives in the dark," Rick Berlin sings in "Miracle," one of 15 songs recorded live at the notorious drag queen bar in Boston's Bay Village, Jacques. Located across the street from where the Cocoanut Grove nightclub burned to the ground forcing changes in laws, it is probably the only bar in New England with a midnight license. Captured here is the ambiance with veteran singer/songwriter Rick Berlin, whose Monday night performances at this venue rivals Little Joe Cook's work at the Cantab for longevity. It is amazing what one man can do with a voice, piano, and audience. "(I Like) Straight Guys" is humorous in the pitter patter piano and the effective vocal, ending with a climactic "honk if you love Jesus..." -- the "f" word (three letters, not four) trailing off in the distance. Berlin, formerly known as Rick Kinscherf when signed to Epic Records in the '70s with his group Orchestra Luna, is in total control with piano runs and a vocal sound moving closer to John Cale than Berlin's work with his fusion and hard rock bands ever displayed. Jane Friedman, who worked with Cale, also represented Rick Berlin at one point in time, and she's thanked on the disc, but the comparison between the two artists was never evident until Live at Jacques. The recording is excellent, with keyboards and voice spaced nicely, violin, harmonica, and backing vocals coming in on different titles. "Police Boy in Prague" is simply a title that may have been a bit much even for the CBS release when the band was known as Berlin Airlift. Then things were subtle, innuendo, and double entendre. Berlin compares a boy in Prague lying in his arms to a violin, as the violin plays behind him. This is Rick, as he sings in "Be Yourself," totally immersed in his art in an appreciative arena, dangerous music being generated in a dangerous nightclub. It's a far cry from the days when Berlin opened for Roxy Music or drew thousands of patrons into the Channel club, where his band was among the top draws. "I would rather have a fag for a son than a drunk for a husband," he sings in "Be Yourself." Berlin hasn't gone after the gay market as other artists position themselves. He is just performing because he has to, and producer Dan Cantor has captured the moment in all its glory.
GEORGE THOROGOOD
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George Thorogood is forever consistent and Maverick is more of the blues/rock driving sound the journeyman guitarist is known for. John Lee Hooker's "Crawling King Snake" is what you expect from this crew while "Memphis, Tennessee" bursts at the seams with George's trademark slide and Hank Carter's saxophone. Recorded at the legendary Dimension Sound Studio in July of 1984 on the outskirts of Boston, the earthy sound catches all the band's primal energy from opener "Gear Jammer" to the wailing sax of "Long Gone." There are only four originals from Thorogood, the album chock full of Johnny Otis, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, John Lee Hooker and others. It is territory that the group has covered on pretty much every previous record, but it's done with the artistic passion that makes it real. The vocal on "What a Price" full of torment, it's a nice contrast to the rocking numbers.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
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| Review | by Joe Viglione |
George Thorogood is forever consistent and Maverick is more of the blues/rock driving sound the journeyman guitarist is known for. John Lee Hooker's "Crawling King Snake" is what you expect from this crew while "Memphis, Tennessee" bursts at the seams with George's trademark slide and Hank Carter's saxophone. Recorded at the legendary Dimension Sound Studio in July of 1984 on the outskirts of Boston, the earthy sound catches all the band's primal energy from opener "Gear Jammer" to the wailing sax of "Long Gone." There are only four originals from Thorogood, the album chock full of Johnny Otis, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, John Lee Hooker and others. It is territory that the group has covered on pretty much every previous record, but it's done with the artistic passion that makes it real. The vocal on "What a Price" full of torment, it's a nice contrast to the rocking numbers.
THE PIXIES Loudquietloud: A Film About the Pixies
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wvfuxqydldde | Review | by Joe Viglione | | This is a well-deserved documentary film on the Pixies, though a bit ostentatious in its premise. The band is one of the greats that emerged out of the 1980s Boston scene, but the opening quip calling them "one of the most influential bands of all time" is the kind of overreach that takes away from the fun, and a philosophy that holds this elegant — and at times gorgeous — production back. What should be an important addition to their musical catalog quickly evaporates into a DVD fanzine — not a bad thing in itself, but not the type of vehicle that will recruit many new fans or beg repeated plays. Frank Black (aka Black Francis) doesn't have the presence of a Willie "Loco" Alexander, a huge Boston cult figure who is a most intriguing and captivating character. As the first artist to perform at the Boston Tea Party, and later as a member of the Velvet Underground, Alexander has the "street cred" that would make a mere phone conversation compelling. Watching Black Francis engaged on the telly about the ego conflicts with Kim Deal is hardly as enlightening as, say, Ralph J. Gleason presenting a legendary 1965 Bob Dylan press conference. Therein lies the problem: David, Kim, Joey, and Frank (or is it Black?) are not John, Paul, George, and Ringo, nor does this film contain the supreme irreverence of A Hard Day's Night or Help! And just as one Boston area WZLX disc jockey asked on-air, in all seriousness, "Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starkey? Who is this Starkey guy?," few people on the planet could ever find the missing Pixies link, Charles Thompson. This film is not for the masses, but for Pixies fans, a cult that loves the sound and wants the music, and it's the music here that is the most powerful thing. Sadly, there's just not enough of it. The personalities don't jump off the screen, so the home movie's best footage outside of the snippets of music are some of the sights — the band recording in Iceland, a hotel front in Chicago. The DVD becomes as frustrating as the group's breakup.
You can't put bald ego on tape and expect to find the magic. The magic with the Pixies has always been the music — not their looks, not their persona — but simply the sound they blasted from the stage of the Rat in Boston way back when. Gee, if only if only that fantastic set was what was inside this DVD case. Kelley Deal wielding a camera and asking a woman why she's there is supposed to be ironic. "My daughter Kim's in the Pixies; I'm here to see her." The home movie is great stuff, Kelley, of course, and being the woman's daughter is as well. But wouldn't it have been more fun to see mom running the camera and a great Breeders song appear from out of nowhere? Now, had these drawn-out moments been edited down and dropped into one of the many Pixies music videos out there — for example, the December 15, 1986, appearance at WJUL (now WUML) in Lowell, MA, or the Los Angeles footage from October 30, 2004 — this project would have taken on lots more meaning and historical importance. There is a cool 16-page black-and-white booklet with commentary from directors Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin, but what they fail to note is that many of the bands that the Pixies influenced, with the exception of Nirvana and perhaps a handful of others, never reached the level of Roxy Music, the Cars, R.E.M., or other latter-day pioneers that the Velvet Underground spawned. The Cars inspired many more bands than the Pixies, for example, and a quirky documentary on those personalities would be more entertaining. Without the Cars there would be no "Every Breath You Take" from the Police, arguably their greatest hit. Without the Pixies there's a very good chance Kurt Cobain would have still made his mark. The filmmakers do nothing here to dispute that, which renders Loudquietloud: A Film About the Pixies a great concept that misses. The group — and these filmmakers — need to borrow the Barre Phillips Live in Vienna DVD (on the same label, Music Video Distributors) to see pure genius, and a simple interview with more value than egos continuing to get in the way of the creation of intriguing sounds. One would think after all these years they'd get it. | |
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