THE OVSTER Band perform at the Commodore this Friday, June 12.

Vorking class

YSTER Band rides

wave of indignation;

Vic Reeves says
Hitler’s Diary is in Tom Pet-
ty’s wardrobe; Kid Creole’s
coconuts are gathered;
Black Crowes sing southern
harmony.

Michae! Becker
RECORD REVIEW

Oyster Band — Deserters,
Rykodisc 1992

The righteous indignation of the
working class lives on in song with
this intelligent British folk-rock
staple.

Theo steadfast essence of the
Oyster Band musical mandate is to
be found in the simple choice
proposed in Fiddle Or A Gun:
“And it’s time to choose — do |
have to choose? Old men’s wars
are never done. | picked up the
fiddle, put down the gun.”

People-power rides a shanty
wave propelled by melodeon,
cello, guitar, banjo, fiddle, concer-
tina and bodhran.

The Oyster Band play the
Commodore June 12.

Vic Reeves — ‘1 Will Cure
You,’’ island Records 1991

The quotation marks in the title
give Vic away. You see, without
them the buyer may take him at
his smarmy word. The quotation
marks are there to tell you that he
is only kidding. He is a joker.

Vic has a U.K. TV show called
The Big Night Out. The preblem is
that when you listen to him you
can’t see the smirk and you can’t
hear the quotation marks. What is
often meant as parody comes off
as the unintentionally deranged
repertoire of a bad lounge act.

Born Free is best left dead and
baking under a het African sun,
crooner tongue-in-cheek or not.

The version of Tommy Roe’s
Dizzy, done by Reeves and The
Wonder Stuff, smells like 2 dose of
post-traumatic teen spirit syn-
drome.

Vic does hit the funnyman
jackpot with a jazzy ditty a hap-
py-go-lucky guy in the 1950s might
have been whistling — /
Remember Punk Rock.

Zoot allure

Kid Creole And The Coconuts
— Kid Creole Redux, Sire Re-
cords 1992

Slather on the factor 39
sunblock and crank the vibes.
August Darnell, the Manhattan
kid, has been serving soca with a
swinging big-band twist since 1980
when he broke away from Dr.
Buzzard’s Original Savannah
Band. He remade himself into a
souped-up Cab Calloway and
framed the conceit with three
stunning, dancing, singing
blondes.

As pop flavors come and go, the
kid’s breezy tropical tunes remain
uncomplicated islands in the sun.

Vacuous — yes. Fun — all the
mare so.

The Black Crowes — The
Southern Harmony and Musical
Companion, Def American Re-
cordings 1992

linstinctively knew the ‘7Cs
were an all right decade musically
speaking. { have some of the
albums.

Bloated arena rockers and the

happen

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jive disco detour did glitter-ball up
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ail somehow left a hollow ring.
The refrain was selective.

The good stuff was either forgot-
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ing to the 7960s. Before the punk
wave crashed the party to issue
the establishment a collective
raspberry, ears were stuffed with
Grand Funk Railroad windbaggery
and Donna Summer faux ferile
flash.

The Black Crowes spirituall
belong to the early 1970s roc’
matrix. Sonically they fit in neatly
with the better Faces or Led Zep
music of the period. It’s a raunch
and roll boogy thing. It oozes nas-
ty boy attitude.

Lead singer Chris Robinson re-
minds of a younger Rod the Mod.

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