Rob's Review of the Little Steven's Underground Garage
Festival, August 14, NYC. For the uninitiated, Rob is a member in
excellent standing of the Hillbilly Dictators Jihad. Given that position
of distinction, you can rest assured that what follows are the observations of a
man with impeccable taste.
My rankings of all the bands we saw at the Little
Steven International
Underground Garage Festival
8/14/04 @Randall's Island, NY
(the 35th Anniversary of Woodstock)
1. THE MOONEY SUZUKI - Yow! These guys get it.
Over the top energy
playing killer tunes. Wish
they'd played a full set. Amazing, jaw-drop-
ping rock and roll.
2. IGGY & THE STOOGES - I fulfilled a 35 year
old dream by seeing these
guys. Even @ age 57, the Ig
still can run rings around wimps like the
Strokes. Proving that older and
sober can be just as good as young
and messed up.
3. THE NEW YORK DOLLS - Ditto. Sure, only two
of 'em are still alive
and kickin', but kick they did,
and kicked hard, too. I had my doubts,
but they proved me very wrong.
4. THE DICTATORS - They've never let us down,
ever. Even a little rusty,
and with all the internal
turmoil, the Bronx Bombers made mincemeat
outta most of the others. And
none other than Nancy Sinatra loved 'em!
5. THE ELECTRIC PRUNES - Geez, I got misty eyed
when they did "I Had
Too Much To Dream Last
Night", one of the greatest records ever. Who
woulda thought these
fossils would have sounded so...young?
6. THE CREATION - More old blokes raisin' a
ruckus. Until the past few
years I'd never realized how
influential these guys were, right down to
the violin bow on the electric
guitar, a gimmick I'm sure Jimmy Page
takes credit for.
7. THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS - Their albums are
lukewarm and kinda
kinda slick, but live they
deliver. Hope they get this energy harnessed
in a studio next time around.
8. THE FORTY FIVES - I figured they'd be good, but
they surprised me
with a sharp set. Like the
new album, too.
9. RICHARD AND THE YOUNG LIONS - Richard
died just a few weeks
ago, this was a tribute
set. His stand in was excellent, but the stand-
out was his 15 year
old son, who handled his lead vocal turn with a
snottiness that woulda
made his dad proud. Great stuff, Maynard.
10. THE LYRES - They did my two favorite Lyres
songs, and Monoman
Connelly was at his
best. Nice pale pink go-go wig on him, too.
The band just
crackled with energy. "Help You Ann" is one of my
favorite
records, ever, and they did it proud.
11. THE FLESHTONES - Classy move bringing up
Dave Faulkner of the
Hoodoo Gurus to do
"Like Wow...Wipeout". Great combination.
The Fleshtones
rule!
12. THE SHAZAM - Sal & Ed swear by these
guys, now I know why.
More power pop
than garage, they were amazingly energetic.
Now I gotta find
their albums.
13. THE D4 - Their album was ok, but, like
so many of these bands,
they must be
heard in person. I'll give the album another listen.
14. BO DIDDLEY - What can I say about one of
the founding fathers?
The crowd
loved him, his band was good, too. Wish he'd have play-
more guitar,
though. Sad to see a legend get old...
15. THE PRETTY THINGS - Possibly would have
been higher if they
hadn't had
their set cut short due to Hurricane Charlie. I'd have
been thrilled
if they'd done some of their non-blues stuff, from
their
psychedelic and power poppy eras.
16. THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND - Just like the E
Prunes, these
old goats
managed to put down the AARP cards long enough to
do two rock
classics in fine style.
17. THE PAYBACKS - Their albums rule,
but live, at least on this day,
this band was
a little disappointing. Not bad, but shoulda been a
whole lot
better.
18. THE BLACKOUTS - The first band we
saw made a very good im-
pression on me. I'd
like to hear a whole set and one of their discs.
19. THE CYNICS - A great band showing their
age a bit. They sounded
and looked
tired. I know they can do much better than this set.
20. THE COCKTAIL SLIPPERS - All girl band
from Norway, cute as
bunny noses and
decent players to boot. Cute to the point of
distraction.
The songs weren't memorable in the least, though.
21. THE CHESTERFIELD KINGS - See Cynics
review. The highlight
of their set was
having Bruce Springsteen introduce them.
22. THE ROMANTICS - Much to my surprise, the
crowd went nuts
when they did
"What I Like About You". I expected a stoney
silence for this
overplayed chestnut. Not bad at all, and not a
red naugahyde suit
to be seen on any of 'em.
23. THE BOSS MARTIANS - One of those bands
that I can't put my
finger on what I
don't like about 'em. That being said, their last
album is pretty
good.
24. THE CHARMS - The singer was cute, but, as
Sal pointed out,
she was trying too
hard to sell the sexy image. Unless Debby
Harry is her mom,
it's been done before. Songs were weak, too.
25. THE STEMS - Dom Mariani is supposedly a
genius, but this set
was lifeless and
bland. Maybe it was the flight from Australia.
26. BIG STAR - I've never bought into the
Alex Chilton myth, and
this set
didn't help. Cool that he has two Posies in the band,
a couple of
the songs were good, but the set was just plain dull.
27. THE FUZZTONES - I've now seen 'em twice,
and each time the
main guy has
thrown a hissy. This time he almost hit a Go-Go
Girl with a
kicked guitar stand. That being said, the songs were
cool and the
band was hot. Docked many points for pud-ness.
28. NANCY SINATRA - Her already limited
voice is shot, and she's
beginning to
look like her dad in drag. Morissey & Thurston Moore
songs? Stick with
the Hazelwood stuff, granny. Too bad she didn't
bring up
Handsome Dick Manitoba for a version of "Something
Stupid" At
least she did "Boots" & Lightning's Girl". Poorly, but
she did 'em.
Easily the biggest disappointment of the fest.
29. THE RAVEONETTES - Mercifully weather
shortened set. Not one
shred of
emotion or enthusiam. Or talent, for that matter.
30. THE PETE BEST BAND - No wonder John, Paul
& George sacked
him for Ringo! Such
a weak drummer that they had a second drum-
mer on stage. Weak front
man didn't help. Obviously, this band ex-
ists to cash in on
Best's "fame", not his talent. At least I can now
truly say I've seen
a Beatle in person, though.
31. JARVIS HUMBY - Maybe I'm being too hard
on these guys, they
were obviously
nervous, and just as obviously mediocre. Still, if I
found their album
for 2$ or so, I'd buy it.
32. THE STROKES - What an appropriate
moniker!. Tepid, emotion-
less, and
just on the bill to sell tickets to 14 year olds girls from
Long Island,
they had no business on this bill. There was no place
to hide, they
even came in loud and clear in the porta-potties!
But the porta
potties didn't stink as much as the Strokes did.
The Dictators
shoulda been in this slot.
INCOMPLETE -
The Woggles. I was otherwise occupied.
Great
sound, not a bad place to see something like this. The
stage
was really nice, too bad the turntable part broke down.
The
60(!) GoGo Girls were great eye candy, a great touch.
Seeing
Paulie Walnuts, Big Pussy, Springsteen, and Chuck
Barris
doing band intros was most cool. Kim Fowley, Martin
Lewis
(or was it Lewis Martin?) were up there way too much,
filling
time due to the rotating stage breakdown.
Many
thanks to Salvi, Karen, Gene & Yo, Bill, Kris & Bob
for a great time. When's the next one, kids??????
